Starting Over Again
by balthezarian
Summary: An unexpected loss has the Son family trying to piece their lives back together.
1. Chapter 1

Note: Yes, this is AU after Buu.

/////

Thirty days. That was how long Son Goku had lasted in his home after the Buu fight before he had found a new adventure. No one was particularly sure what that adventure was, either. One day he had a little conversation with King Kai, and the next thing they knew he was so far off the planet that no one could even sense him. He had said no goodbyes before he had left, offering only a slight wave to his eldest son before disappearing again.

That had been two months earlier.

Gohan rubbed his tired eyes as he plowed through his history homework at the kitchen table. The work itself was not particularly difficult, but the seventeen year old had a very long day and, quite frankly, was borderline exhausted. A couple weeks after his father had left, Gohan had taken up a part time job in order to help out with the family finances. They had managed to scrape by before he had, but he could see the huge amount of stress it had been having on his mother.

Chi-Chi had taken what little prize money had been left over from Goku's championship and had been stretching it to provide for her family for almost ten years. On top of that, she did every possible thing she could think of to save up for the future of her children. She washed their clothes by hand using water from local stream and dried them on a clothes line. She grew crops out behind their house and harvested as many seeds as she could from one season to the next to try to expand their food budget. Whenever clothes were torn up, she stitched them back together with her own hands. Goten remained home schooled, and Gohan's education was provided for by scholarships. And to add to their meager savings, Chi-Chi made rugs, throws, and custom clothes, and sold them to the people in the local village.

After watching his mother work all day long almost every single day just to make ends meet, Gohan had gone out to find work. At first he was just going to check out the 'Help Wanted' signs in the village, but Bulma had caught on to what he was doing and had offered him an intern position. The teenager had protested at first. Gohan couldn't help but feel like he was only being offered the job because the heiress felt sorry for him.

But Bulma had insisted that if the boy applied for it, he would get the job based on merit alone. It took a high GPA and several letters of recommendation to get considered for the entry level job, but Gohan could meet every one of those requirements.

At his own insistence, Gohan got no special treatment. He did the filing, data entry, and entry level work that the other interns did. And just like the other interns, he called her 'Boss' when she came down to check on them once a week. It was the only time they ever saw each other, and they kept it strictly professional. It wasn't a glamorous job by any stretch of the imagination, but it paid significantly more than a restaurant or retail job would have. Besides, it looked great on a college application.

However, after eight hours of school, five hours of work, and making sure to spend some time playing with his little brother, the poor boy often found himself worn out by the time he even began his intense homework load.

"It's the moments like this," he grumbled to himself, "I really wish I had just let everyone on Earth know that _I_ killed Cell."

"And why would that be?" a voice softly asked from behind.

With a start, Gohan whipped around. "Geez, Mom, you almost gave me a heart attack!" he softly responded.

Chi-Chi chuckled lightly as she sat across from her son. It was nearing midnight, and the only lights on in the entire house were the ones Gohan studied by and a single lamp in Chi-Chi's bedroom. The light cast a slightly eerie glow on them as the mother slowly got to her feet and put the tea kettle on the stove. "I thought you had the power to sense people coming," she gently teased.

Gohan smiled at her. "Well, it doesn't count when it's my abnormally soft stepping mother sneaking up on me as I try to figure out how the rest of the world sees the Cell Games."

Rolling her eyes, Chi-Chi sat back down. "I'm afraid I can't help you there," she responded. "What does the book say?"

"Not what actually happened, that's for sure," the teenager grumbled, flipping the page back to the beginning of the section. "I'm trying to figure out if he's supposed to have done it out of honor, duty to his fans, or just because it was a tournament for him to win."

"Well," his mother said, stretching out her legs, "you could just write a tell-all exposé about how he was completely useless and just got in the way of the _real_ fighters."

Chewing lightly on the back of his pencil, Gohan stared down at his notepaper. "It's tempting," he agreed. "And if it weren't for the fact that he's my girlfriend's father, I might actually do it. Unfortunately, I made a promise to her not to publicly humiliate her father, and unless you want me to go back to being a dateless wonder…"

"NO!" Chi-Chi called out, immediately covering her mouth in embarrassment over how loud her outburst had been. The last thing she wanted to do was wake up Goten. Once he was up, that boy stayed up. Fortunately, he was an extremely heavy sleeper.

Trunks had even given a _very_ entertaining lecture and demonstration on the subject at a sleepover the previous year.

Clearing her throat slightly, the graying mother got up and smoothed out her skirt. "What I meant," she calmly said as she went to prepare her tea, "was that you and she are an adorable couple. You two are meant for each other. And I want those grandchildren, so you'll just have to study the lies."

Gohan groaned and leaned back in his chair. "You couldn't at least wait until I was out of high school before you started pushing for grandchildren?"

"No," she smoothly answered, sitting down again with a gently huff. "No, I could not."

Gohan glanced at his mother, and really took in her appearance. In the last two months, her hair had gotten significantly grayer. The lines around her eyes were more pronounced, her movements were a little slower, and she had been tired a lot more often. She was only thirty seven years old, but she was starting to look like she was nearing fifty. And the simple act of making her tea seemed to leave her slightly out of breath.

"Mom?" he gently asked. "Are you alright?"

Hesitantly, Chi-Chi looked her firstborn in the eye. "I've been better," she admitted. "It's a little later than I like to stay up, and I think I might be coming down with something. I've been a little off my game lately."

Gohan reached out and put a hand on his mother's shoulder. "Why don't you take a day for yourself tomorrow?" he suggested. "If you keep doing everything, you're never going to get any better."

Sighing, she slid her hand on to his and gave it a soft pat before nudging it off. "Maybe I'll just to the laundry and your brother's schooling tomorrow. I can put everything else off for a day."

"Those first two can, too," Gohan pointed out. "The laundry will be just as dirty on Friday as it will be tomorrow, and we can give Goten a 'play day' at Capsule Corp."

Chi-Chi lowered her eyebrows. "First of all, I'm not happy with the idea of letting Goten slack off with his school work. I don't know if you've noticed, but he's not quite as good at it as you were at that age. You took three years off and didn't miss a beat. He takes a three day weekend and forgets math."

The half Saiyan chuckled softly to himself. As much as he loved his little brother with all his heart, it was no secret that academia was hardly the kid's strength. At seven years of age, he still needed some help with reading and basic arithmetic.

"Secondly," the mother went on, "if I put off the laundry for one day, then I'll have twice as much to do the next day."

"I'll help out with the laundry over the weekend," Gohan assured, "and I think Goten can miss one day now and make up for it on Sunday."

The woman looked into her teacup, considering the idea for a moment. "I'll agree to the laundry," she eventually consented, "but I'm going to at least give Goten a half lesson tomorrow. He can play with Trunks and Bulma."

The thought immediately crossed his mind that Bulma would be at work all day, thus leaving the boys in Vegeta's care, but he decided that his mother did not need to know that at the moment. The last time Vegeta had been with both of them for a whole day, he had ended up locking them in the gravity room with him to keep them as contained as possible. Chi-Chi had not been happy about that, so Gohan figured that a little ignorance would be good for his mother's bliss.

"Okay, but you have to promise to take the rest of the day off," Gohan pushed, giving his mother a mild glare. "One day of rest is not going to kill you. You really don't look that good."

"Thanks," she sarcastically answered.

"You're welcome," Gohan replied with a smug look on his face.

Glaring at her son, Chi-Chi sipped at her tea. "You know, I'm starting to think that Trunks is a bad influence on _you_, too."

"Actually," Gohan corrected, "I got that one from Krillen. So technically, _he's_ the bad influence."

Looking exhausted, Chi-Chi got to her feet. "I'll make a note of everyone you're not allowed to be near ever again in a couple days," she jokingly said. "But I am really tired, so it will have to wait." She walked around the table and kissed her son on top of the head. "I'll see you in the morning, sweetheart."

"Good night, Mom," he softly answered.

/////

"Gee, Mom, this smells great!" Goten cheered as he hopped into his seat at the breakfast table.

Chi-Chi gave her youngest son a smile and ruffled his hair with her fingers. "Aw, thank you, sweetie," she said. She stepped back over toward the stove and pulled the porridge off the heat and counted her blessings that her son would almost always be happy with what she offered. In fact, with the exception of lima beans, the boy would eat just about anything with a smile on his face. "Where's your brother?"

"Right here," Gohan called out, jumping down the staircase as he toweled off his hair. Fast as could be, he popped the towel into the laundry hamper off in the side room before joining his mother and brother in the kitchen. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "I slept late."

"It's true," Goten confirmed, nodding enthusiastically. "He broke the alarm clock again, and I tried to wake him up, but he just kept on sleeping and mumbling things."

Chi-Chi shot Gohan a mild glare, and the teenager quickly held up his hands in defense. "I'll fix it, Mom, I swear!"

The mother just let out a tired sigh as she stirred their simple breakfast in the pot. She really did not want to spent money on a new clock for the boys, but it was hardly lost on her that Gohan was already stressed out more than a seventeen year old boy should be. The last thing she wanted was to make him repair his clock on top of everything else he was doing. "Don't worry about it," she gently said. "I think I have a spare one around here."

"Really?" Gohan asked.

"I'll look for it later," she assured. "But right now, I know two growing boys who could use a nice healthy breakfast!"

The next half hour was spent happily, with Goten telling his mother and brother all about what he was hoping to do with Trunks that afternoon. Chi-Chi laughed at her little boy's antics, and promised to drop him off absolutely no later than one. Gohan was then forced to swear, under threat of pain, that he would remember to pick up his little brother after work and bring him home.

"Oh, man," Gohan gasped, looking at his wristwatch and shoving one last bite into his mouth. "I gotta go if I'm going to get to class on time!"

Goten rushed to the door after his brother, waving him off. "Bye, big brother!" he called out as Gohan took to the sky.

"Bye, Squirt!" he called back. "Bye, Mom!"

"Hey!" Chi-Chi shouted, breathing a little hard as she reached the doorway. "Promise that you'll take care of your brother!"

As Gohan shot off to the west, he called back, "I promise!"

With an appeased look on her face, Chi-Chi looked down at Goten. "Well, let's get to it," she instructed. "You've got your own studies to do if you want to go play!"

/////

Bulma Briefs glared at the paper work at her desk. She really hated being the president of the company sometimes. Before her father had retired, the heiress had spent about half of her day in a lab, getting her hands dirty as she tried to make some wondrous new invention, and the other half doing whatever the hell she wanted. After taking over, though, she had found half of her day locked in her office with mindless paperwork, half of her day in the lab making sure that her real talents didn't go to waste, and half the day with her family. She knew that added up to three halves, and was mathematically impossible, but she was still convinced that those were the accurate ratios for how her days were spent.

She turned her glare to her clock and groaned loudly. It was almost four in the afternoon, and not only was she not almost ready to go home, she hadn't even had her lunch break yet.

"I really need to get around to inventing that time machine," she grumbled, angrily shoving the papers away and putting her glasses back on her face. "I really do not have time for this right now."

Groaning again, she slumped down in her chair. Not only had it been a particularly heavy day as far as politics and paper work had been concerned, but she was also having to function without a drop of caffeine. Three days earlier she had found herself holding a positive pregnancy test, and while the news had made her happy, the number of things she had to give up did not.

"I wonder if I shoot someone now, I can get a jury to agree that it was justifiable homicide," she muttered, strumming her fingers on her desk. She had been having mood swings off and on all day, and she really thought killing someone would make her feel infinitely better.

Rubbing her eyes, she leaned forward and rested her head on her impressively large desk. "I'm seriously contemplating murder just to lower my stress level…I have been spending way too much time with Vegeta," she groaned.

For what felt like the millionth time that day, the phone began to ring. "I'm not here," she muttered in to her desk. "I'm not here, I'm not here, I'm not here, I'm not here…"

Soon enough, it switched into her voice mail, and she sighed with relief. The last thing she wanted was to deal with another money grubbing investor or corporate shark thinking they could break her into selling off parts of her company. She would never bow to them, but that certainly did not mean that she wanted to talk to them.

Her moment of bliss was short lived as the phone immediately began to ring again, and again she let it go straight to voice mail. When it began to ring the third time in a row, she gave up on the idea of her pursuer just giving up. Whoever was on the other end really wanted to get a hold of her. Violently snatching at the phone off of the hook, she practically snarled in to it, "This better be important!"

"Hi, Aunty Bulma!" a cheerful voice called out from the other end.

Bulma sat straight up and immediately wished she hadn't. The headache hardly seemed worth it. "Oh, Goten, sweetie, how are you?" she asked. Suddenly, her eyes grew enormous. "Wait a minute, _where_ are you? Aren't you with Trunks and Vegeta?"

"No," the boy hesitantly answered. "I don't know where they are."

Bulma's eyes narrowed dangerously. After all the stunts the boys had tried to pull on him the last time, Vegeta had sworn that if ever stuck in that situation again, the minute the boys acted up he was going to abandon them in the woods. If Goten was supposed to be with him, but had no idea where he was…

"I'm going to kill him," she growled. Cradling the phone with her shoulder, she pulled out a pen and a piece of blank paper. "Listen, honey," she said, trying to remain calm, "if you just tell me where you are, I'll come pick you up right away."

"What?" the high voice on the other side asked. "Oh, I'm just at home. Actually, that's why I called."

Bulma dropped the pen and leaned back in relief. "Thank goodness," she softly said. "So, what? Did your mom just make you study all afternoon, but you're ready to come over now?"

"No," he calmly answered. Bulma listened as Goten was clearly fiddling with the phone for a while before he went on. "I was wondering if I could talk to Gohan for a minute."

The scientist rolled her eyes and removed her glasses again, tossing them on her desk. "Goten, we talked about the rules before, remember?" she gently explained. "I know you really love your brother, but we talked about how when Gohan's at work, you're not allowed to call him."

There was a pause on the other end as Goten continued to play with the phone. "I remember," he eventually said, settling the phone in his hands. "But I was hoping that maybe I could talk to him anyway."

"Goten," Bulma groaned, pinching the bridge of your nose, "why don't you let me talk to your mom?"

"Well, that's why I'm calling Gohan," Goten explained patiently. "Mommy's asleep, and I'm really hungry, but I'm not supposed to touch the stove when Mommy isn't with me."

"Asleep?"

"Yeah," he kept explaining, his voice still level and patient. "She said she was kinda tired, and that she was gonna take a nap, but she said that right before she was gonna make me lunch, and that was a really long time ago, and I'm really hungry, but there's nobody here to help me with the stove, and…"

"I get it," Bulma interrupted, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Goten, have you tried to wake your mom up?"

Again, the phone shifted in the boy's hand. "I tried to," he genuinely said, "but I must be doing it wrong, because she's not waking up."

Slowly, Bulma sat all the way up in her chair. "Goten," she slowly said, "how long have you been trying to wake up your mom?"

"I dunno," he casually answered. "A couple hours?" He paused for a minute before adding, "Do you think giving her another blanket would help her wake up?"

"Another blanket?" Bulma asked, feeling her heart rate pick up.

"Yeah," he responded. "She seemed pretty cold, so maybe a blanket could help her wake up. Wait a sec, Auntie Bulma, I wanna go try that…"

Her heart shot to her throat. "Wait!" she called out, wanting to keep the boy on the line. "She…she's cold?"

"Yeah," he said again.

Bulma's hands began to tremble. "Goten," she softly started, "I want you to fly over to our house right now."

Goten blinked in surprise. "Um, Auntie Bulma," he hesitantly answered, "I'm not supposed to do that on my own…"

"I know," the blue haired woman interrupted, "but since your mommy isn't awake right now, and Gohan's busy, I want you to start coming over here. Don't worry, honey, I'll send Vegeta to meet you on the way as you come, okay? Don't worry, you won't do the whole trip alone."

"Well…I guess that makes sense," the seven year old agreed. "Do you promise that he's going to meet me?"

"I promise," Bulma assured. "But I really want you to come right now."

Goten only thought for a few more seconds before happily agreeing, "Okay! See if Trunks can come to!" A click on the other side indicated that the boy was done with the phone.

Bulma sat back and put her hand over her mouth. "Kami, no," she whispered through her palm. There really wasn't any other conclusion she could draw from that phone call. Chi-Chi had been out for hours. She was unable to be awakened. She was cold. It was so simple, but it had to be wrong.

Leaning forward, she unsteadily picked up the phone and dialed a rarely used number. "Pick it up, pick it up," she whispered. Her shoulders began to shake and tears began to form in her eyes. "Please pick up your phone…"

"You know that I never actually pick up that useless device," a deep voice spoke from behind her.

Whipping around in her chair, Bulma dropped the phone and jumped to her feet. With a sob, she wrapped her arms around her husband's neck and pulled herself close to him.

Chalking it up to a mood swing, Vegeta rolled his eyes. It had been three days since it had been confirmed that she was pregnant, but he had been suspecting as much for almost a month. Normally, her moods were easily predicted by him. He knew exactly how she would react to anything at any time. When she had first been pregnant with Trunks, though, her mood swings had been wild, violent, and completely unpredictable.

This new pregnancy seemed to be moving along almost exactly the same.

Vegeta didn't dare open his mouth, though. Regardless of the cause of the swing, he had learned very well that the worst possible thing he could do when she was having one was talk. It never mattered what he said, it always set her off again. So when she grabbed him, crying, he calmly held her and kept his lips sealed.

Only a few seconds later, Bulma stepped back and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Go get Goten," she said, trying to keep her voice level. "I told him that he had to come over and that you would meet him. Go get him."

The prince raised an eyebrow. Her words had been firm but controlled. _That_ was unusual behavior for one of her mood swings. "Why can't the boy…" He stopped, mid sentence. The look in her eye was that of borderline desperation. Something was very wrong.

"What happened?"


	2. Chapter 2

"I need you to get Goten," she said again, a more noticeable tremble in her voice. "I need you to drop him off with my parents, and then…then I need you to go back to Goten's house and wait with the body until the proper authorities get there."

While he didn't move a muscle, there was a noticeable color change in his face. "Who?" he softly asked.

Bulma's lip trembled before she finally sobbed again and held her husband close. "Chi-Chi," she cried, clutching him dearly. "Oh, Vegeta, Chi-Chi's dead!"

Slowly, the Saiyan brought his arms up around his wife's body. "The boy…"

"Doesn't know," Bulma cried into his shoulder. "He doesn't know." Once again, she stood back, fighting to compose herself. "As far as Goten knows, his mom is just taking a very long nap. He says she's been down for hours. He has been unable to wake her, and…and she's cold."

Vegeta offered a slight nod before backing up toward the window. "How do you plan to deal with…"

"I'll talk to Gohan," she firmly said. "His shift ends in two hours. That should give me enough time to…to figure out how I am going to tell him."

"Confirmation?" Vegeta asked.

With her bright blue eyes, Bulma looked sorrowfully at her husband. "What?"

"Have you achieved confirmation that she is deceased?" he calmly asked.

Fighting to keep her breath as stable as possible, Bulma shook her head. "Not officially, no," she managed to get out. "But what else could it be?"

The prince bit down softly on the inside of his left cheek, a trait he often displayed when dealing with something he was not particularly comfortable with dealing with. He wanted desperately to roll his eyes and point out that if no one had actually been able to prove that the situation was what they thought it was, he was more than aware of the fact that it would only make the situation worse.

Odds were not in favor of the woman being alive. While he was a firm believer in making certain someone was dead before assuming a damn thing, even he could not argue against the information they had been given. He had been around enough dead bodies in his life to know what all the signs were.

There was no point debating with his wife, it would only upset her more. "I'll be back as soon as possible," he quietly said, heading for the window he had entered from.

As he took flight for Goten's energy signal, a sobering thought crossed his mind. Kakarot's wife was three years younger than his own. She ate healthy, exercised regularly, and overall seemed to be in fairly good shape. Bulma was older, exercised only enough to keep her figure trip, and had been a chain smoker before he had forced her to quit because he couldn't stand the smell.

If Chi-Chi had already died, how much time could Bulma have left?

/////

Bulma paced anxiously around her office. There were so many things that had to be done, so many people that had to be told, just so much terrible work that came with being the first to know that a loved one died. She looked at the clock and gulped. There were still almost two hours until Gohan got off his shift, and Bulma was determined to not interrupt him with the news. As terrible as it seemed, the heiress needed more time to structure out how to tell the poor boy.

Should she sit him down and bluntly lay out the facts to him? Or perhaps it would be better to offer him a bite to eat a give him a chance to relax before she eased him in to it? Maybe it would be best if she had help. Sometimes it was easiest to hear bad news if surrounded by loving friends…

Her stress level just got higher and higher as she thought about it. There was no concrete answer to her question.

How do you tell your seventeen year old godson that their mother died?

The stress was starting to eat away at her nerves, and it had only been four minutes since she found out. If it weren't for the fact that she knew she was pregnant, she would have been reaching for a cigarette.

There were so many things that needed to be addressed, and she wanted to make sure she had at least some plan for each of them before telling Gohan the awful truth. The body had to be picked up for the morgue, funeral arrangements had to be made, the division of her assets had to occur…

But Bulma knew that there were two things that had to be addressed that no one would want to deal with: someone had to find Goku, and if nobody could do that, who would take care of the boys?

The heiress began to rub her hands together in an agitated manner. "How do we even get in contact with Goku?" she asked herself, still pacing around the room. "We don't know where he went, we don't know who he went with, we don't know why he went, no one can sense his energy…how do you find someone like that?"

She stopped pacing for a moment and tried to calm her breathing, which had picked up substantially without her even being aware of it. "What are we going to do?" she calmly whispered to herself.

"What are we going to do?"

/////

Goten didn't mind the silence as he flew back to Capsule Corp with Vegeta. Even he knew that unless you wanted to talk about fighting, the pureblooded Saiyan was unlikely to say anything nice to you. So, when the moody man met up with him and joined him in flight, the seven year old simply flew ahead happily.

He was so excited to get to play with his best friend. It had been a few days since the two boys had a chance to play with each other, and both of them seemed to go through the opening stages of withdrawal if kept away for too long. The younger boy had been thinking almost all afternoon of what they could do as soon as he got to his friend's house. There was a new card game that Gohan had taught him that he really wanted to teach Trunks. He couldn't remember all the rules, though, and he couldn't remember how score was kept, but he was sure that between himself and Trunks, they would figure it out.

As the large domed building came in to sight, a giant grin broke out on Goten's face. With an enormous burst of energy, the seven year old rocketed toward his best friend.

"Trunks!" the seven year old cried out.

His eight year old friend jumped out of his window, waving enthusiastically. "Goten! It's about time you got here!" They met mid air and gave each other a high five and a hug. "Geez, what took you so long to get here?"

Goten giggled. "Mommy is taking the world's longest nap."

The heir rolled his eyes. "Figures," he responded. "Grown-ups are so lame like that. If one of us wanted to sleep in and _they_ wanted to something, _they_ would haul us out of bed in a heartbeat. But if one of _them_ is in bed and _we_ wake them up, we get grounded for a week!"

"It was three in the morning, boy," Vegeta shot back, his voice oddly level for the situation. "You're lucky you got away with your head."

Both boys giggled. They had been exposed to comments like that all their lives, and after all those years they were more entertaining than anything else. "Come on," Trunks said with a smirk. "Grandma just made the biggest pile of cookies I have seen in my life."

Goten's eyes grew enormous. "Even bigger than the pile she made two months ago? The one that was as big as me?"

"Way bigger," Trunks assured with confidence. "This is a total mountain. It's taller than _I_ am, and she just put another batch in!"

"Wow!" the younger boy exclaimed. "Let's go see if we can have some!" Without another moment of hesitation, the two boys flew for the house.

Vegeta paused in the air, staying in the city just long enough to make sure the boys got where they needed to be. Bulma was supposed to be calling the authorities at that very moment, and he knew that someone had to be there when they arrived.

With a tired sigh he turned around and headed back for the mountains.

Someone had to be there when the authorities took the body of Kakarot's wife.

/////

Bulma slumped down in her enormous office chair, physically and emotionally drained. She had already contacted the city hospital, the local hospital to the Son house, the police, three funeral homes and five cemeteries. With an exhausted sigh, she slid her desk phone up to the edge and lazily pulled off the receiver. Her fingers began to shake as she slowly dialed her final number.

Silent tears ran down her cheeks as she waited for someone to pick up the other line. Four rings into it, a click was finally heard. "Hello?"

The scientist took a steadying breath. "Krillen?" she softly spoke. "I need your help."

There was a pause on the other line before the former monk replied, "Okay…what's up?"

"I need you to go over to Goku's house," Bulma tried to command.

Again, there was a pause on the other side of the line. "Bulma, what's going on?"

Choking back a sob, Bulma explained everything that had happened up to that point. She emphasized the fact that neither of the boys knew what had happened yet, but she had managed to make as many arrangements on her own as possible.

"Oh my god," Krillen whispered. "Yeah, sure, I'll go over right now. But, um, if Vegeta's already on his way there, what do you need me for?"

"Vegeta's guaranteed to get there before the medics," she explained, "but if any of them cop an attitude, he might have a response that could put him in a less than favorable light for being in the house of a dead body. He can keep his temper as long as no one's a jackass to him, but you have an odd gift for diplomacy in bizarre situations. It just seemed like a good idea to have someone there to play referee."

Krillen couldn't argue that logic. "You want me to send him home if I beat the medics there?" he asked.

Even though she was alone in the room, Bulma shook her head. "Can't," she bluntly answered. "When I contacted the authorities, I had to explain to them how I knew that…the situation existed. I couldn't tell them the whole truth, since no one would believe that a seven year old flew under his own powers for a five hundred mile trip. I told them how Goten found…found the problem, then he called me, we got him to my house and left my husband to wait for them."

"Does Vegeta know I'm coming?"

Bulma sighed. "He will."

Krillen opened his mouth to crack a joke along the lines of 'say something nice at my funeral', but for the first time in his life, he kept his mouth shut and his smart ass response to himself. "I'll call you with an update."

"Thank you," the heiress genuinely spoke. "Talking about it, as strange as it seems, has actually calmed me down a little."

"It usually does," the short man agreed. "Anyway, if I want to get there in time, I have to go now."

The two exchanged their good-byes and hung up. Immediately after replacing her office phone on the hook, Bulma pulled out her private cell phone. Only her closest friends and family could contact her with it, and they all knew that it was for emergencies only.

It was also the only number that Vegeta was willing to pick up.

"I thought the boy's shift had just over an hour left to it," was his blunt greeting.

If they had been in the same room, Bulma would have slapped him on the shoulder. "It does," she shot back. "I just wanted you to know that Krillen's heading your way."

"Woman, I do not need a babysitter," the prince coolly bit out.

Bulma felt her temper rise sharply. "Damn it, Vegeta!" she shouted. "I have been on the phone for a fucking hour, trying to make the arrangements for the body of my oldest friend's wife! How would you feel if you had to answer eight million questions about how you know there's a dead body in a house five hundred miles from where you are? How about fighting with the police to give you enough time to tell the boys personally that their mother is as dead as a doornail, and not let child services take them right now? Or maybe _you'd_ like to be the one to tell the boys that they don't have parents anymore!"

While normally the proud prince would fight back tooth and claw, there were two things that drove him to bite his tongue. First, he knew that with her pregnant, no amount of fighting or logic was going to change her mind. Second, and more importantly, he was at that moment confirming the death of his rival's wife.

"When will Baldie arrive?" he calmly asked.

Bulma let out a huff, but did manage to calm down a little. "In about five minutes, and he hasn't been bald in five years."

"I first knew him by that name, and as Kakarot can attest to, that is the name he is stuck with for the remainder of our mutual existence," he softly responded. "I will call you as soon as there is something to report."

The heiress felt a lump forming at her throat, and she fought the urge to burst into sobs. _Damn hormones_, she thought, fighting to maintain her composure. "Thank you," she finally said. "I love you, Vegeta."

The Saiyan stared down at the cold body before him. "Take care, Bulma," he answered before hanging up.

Breathing heavily, the blue haired beauty felt the tears flow freely again. If she wanted any chance of getting through her talk with Gohan, she had to get it all out of her system. And in under an hour, the hardest of her tasks would finally be dealt with.

/////

Note: The next chapter does actually directly involve the boys.


	3. Chapter 3

Krillen landed softly outside of his best friend's house. All the way over, he kept trying to let the reality of the situation sink in. But the idea of Chi-Chi actually being dead seemed so foreign to him that a small part of him actually expected to see the woman outside doing laundry, like she always seemed to be.

She was not doing the laundry though. Nor was she in her garden or cooking dinner.

"This seriously can't be happening," he softly said to himself. He knocked on the door, but he chided himself as soon as he did it. Gohan and Goten were at Capsule Corp, Goku was gods only knew where, and Chi-Chi was…she was…

The former monk was snapped out of his trance when the front door opened. "Oh…oh, hi, Vegeta…"

The Saiyan offered a simple nod to the human as he opened the door all the way, allowing him access. Krillen quickly stepped inside, and out of habit immediately took his shoes off and shrugged off his coat. While he felt foolish, he opted not to correct himself. "So," he quietly began, tossing his jacked onto the coat rack, "where is she?"

"Bedroom," Vegeta simply replied.

Though he wasn't sure why, Krillen felt all of the moisture in his throat dry up. Part of him wanted to ascend the staircase and look in at her body, just to make sure with his own eyes that she really was…

But another part of him wanted to stay away from that room, and it was for the exact same reason. If he saw, for himself, that Chi-Chi really was gone, he was not entirely sure what his reaction would be, but he was fairly certain he did not want Vegeta to see it.

Vegeta leaned up against the living room wall, his face completely void of all emotion. "I don't suppose you've found some way to contact Kakarot yet…"

"No," the former monk answered as he sat down on the couch. "I even tried to see if I could establish a contact with the Kais and get some help, but I didn't have any luck." He rubbed his eyes for a moment, feeling oddly tired all of a sudden. "At Gohan's request, Piccolo's been trying ever since Goku left to try to find a way, but he hasn't been able to get anything either."

"What about the sprout?"

Krillen laughed quietly to himself, privately entertained by the nickname Vegeta had given to Earth's Guardian. "He's tried a few times in the past without luck, but after we get this all taken care of, I guess we could ask him to try again."

The prince huffed before muttering, "For all the good it would do us…"

The two remained in silence for a few minutes before Krillen began to squirm a little. "I thought Bulma said that someone was going to be sent right over?"

Vegeta offered a mild shrug before walking across the room. "If this planet deals with the dead as most of the planets I have been on do, then it may be a while. They know that the woman is already deceased, and that there are no children in the home. Any units that the hospital may have available are more concerned with saving the living than they are with gathering the dead. They will get here when they get here."

"I know that people who have a chance come first," Krillen responded, more so to himself than anyone else, "but isn't this important, too? I mean, how long has it been since they were called?"

The Saiyan glanced at his watch. "Depending on the order in which the woman made her phone calls, anywhere from an hour and a half to ten minutes ago."

Krillen nodded and glanced around the room. "This may sound like an absolutely absurd question, but we're sure that she's actually dead, right? I mean, we're not just going by Goten's testimony, are we?"

Vegeta leaned against a different wall. "I have confirmed the death myself," he casually answered. "She was found cold and unresponsive. Her lips and fingernails were blue, her skin tone has lost all coloring caused by blood flow, and there is no trace of a heartbeat. She has been dead for at least a few hours already."

Hesitantly, the shorter man cleared his throat and asked, "How do you think…I mean, is there any way to know…"

"Not sure," the prince coolly responded. "If forced to guess, I would wager heart failure or stroke. Whatever claimed her took her in her sleep, and I can assure that she felt no pain." His eyes seemed to go out of focus for a moment. "She actually has a small smile on her face."

That was certainly not news that Krillen had been anticipating. "She's smiling?" he asked.

The Saiyan shook his head, finally choosing to move from the wall to the far end of the couch. "It was…bizarre."

From that moment on, the two remained in total silence. All they did was sit and wait for someone to come and claim the body.

/////

Gohan groaned and rolled out his stiff neck. He had spent five hours straight sitting in a cubicle, transferring an endless amount of data from hand written sheets into the computer system. The boy had learned, much to his dismay, that super human speed only got him so far with the computer. After all, the computer was only able to take in data so fast, and Gohan's fingers could easily outdo what the machine was capable of.

It made his job frustrating at times, but Gohan was still grateful for the opportunity. His first month on the job was just about over, and that meant that payday was just around the corner, and the seventeen year old could not wait to bring that first paycheck home.

As he turned his computer off, a grin crossed his young face. He had earned a few hundred dollars that month, and that would increase the budget enough to allow his mother to finally relax a little, particularly with their enormous food bill. In fact, if he managed to hold on to the job long enough, he could even afford to buy his mother a washer and dryer for the clothes and a dishwasher for the kitchen. And, if he managed to accomplish that, then his mom would be able to have _hours_ more to relax during the day.

"Okay," he sighed with a smile. "Data entered, computer upgraded and ready for the new system, paperwork sorted and filed, and coffee machine cleaned out. All I have to do is sign out, grab my brother, and go home!"

He got to his feet and tossed his bag over his shoulder. Just as he was about to leave his cubicle, though, the intercom crackled. "Gohan Son, please report to Mrs. Briefs office. Gohan Son to Mrs. Briefs office, please."

Gohan groaned again and shut his eyes. Bulma had been very good about keeping their relationship strictly professional unless she needed help containing his brother. It had only happened once so far, but the only time he had ever been summoned to 'The Boss', it had been to get the hyperactive seven year old out of the southern lab. Vegeta was busy in the western lab, tackling Trunks.

As such, being summoned to her office meant that a headache was going to be heading his way. "Damn it, Goten," he muttered, getting in the elevator, "I don't know what you did, but I am going to kill you…"

The elevator ride seemed to take forever, but they always did. He had been capable of flying long before he had even heard of an elevator, so spending two minutes trying to get to a destination that could have taken only two seconds was always, at least to some degree, frustrating. The boy would be lying if he said he had never been tempted to use his natural talents, but logic always won out and kept him acting 'normal'.

It didn't mean he was never tempted…

He got off on the top floor and casually approached the secretary. "Hi," he greeted, "I'm Gohan Son, Mrs. Briefs sent for me?"

The blonde behind the desk adjusted her glasses and double checked her computer screen. "Oh, of course." She looked up at the teenager and gave him a genuine smile. While it was the worst kept secret in the world that the boy had known the boss for years before getting the job, it was equally well known that he was a hard worker who took no hand outs. Plus, he was quite possibly one of the sweetest interns they had ever worked with. "She's expecting you. Go on in."

"Thank you," Gohan replied with a smile on his face. As he entered the office, he braced himself for whatever it was his baby brother had done.

"Hey, Bulma," he casually greeted. "You called?"

She looked up at him, and his heart leapt to his throat for a moment. It was obvious that she had been crying for a while, and she had not managed to get the last few sniffles out of her system. Normally it would have been a sign of something catastrophic, but the teenager had been personally pulled aside by Vegeta and warned that not only were they expecting another child, which was good news, but that it was going to make Bulma occasionally become 'an unbearable beast of a woman who will offer you the world one minute and try to rip your balls off the next'.

It was a lecture that the poor boy was not going to be able to forget.

As such, his worry about Bulma's mood was quickly brushed off. "So, what do you need?" he restated, taking a seat across from her.

Bulma's lower lip trembled as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue. "Oh, Gohan," sniffed out. "Come in, come in."

Opting not to point out the fact that he was already in, he only offered a nod. Sensing that she was not going to actually say anything unless provoked, Gohan decided to keep talking until he finally got to the heart of the matter. "Allergies acting up again?" he joked.

Sniffling a little harder than she had been a moment earlier, the company president shook her head. She was not sure how to explain the tears without blurting out the horrible news, and she had not seen Gohan since she had found out about the baby. "No, no, it's not allergies…"

"Relax, Bulma," the seventeen year old assured. "Vegeta already told me."

The blue haired beauty snapped suddenly from sullen to furious. "What?" she hissed.

Gohan sat completely upright, feeling the little hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It had not crossed his mind that perhaps Bulma had not wanted anyone to know yet. While he doubted that it would be _nearly_ as secretive as her previous pregnancy, it was not at all unlikely that she had been planning some grand way to announce the new baby. "Oh, I'm sorry," he genuinely apologized. "Was I not supposed to know yet?"

"When…when did he tell you?" Bulma demanded, shaking with rage.

The teenager swallowed hard, trying to soothe his suddenly dry throat. "Um…" He didn't want to get Vegeta in any more trouble than he had to, but lying to Bulma seemed just as bad. Letting out a sigh of defeat, he hung his head. "He told me three days ago," he quietly admitted.

Bulma froze and gripped on to her desk so tightly that her knuckles changed color. "He…he…" Her breathing became shallow as she realized that they were talking about different things.

"I'm sorry!" Gohan blurted out. "I didn't know that the baby was supposed to be a secret, and I really don't think that Vegeta knew you were keeping it to yourself, so please don't be mad at him!"

"Oh, Gohan, I'm not mad at him," she quickly assured. "It actually helps to cut down on this conversation…"

The half blood wiped off the layer of sweat that had formed in his moment of panic. "Is that why you called me in here?" he asked, practically beaming. "To tell me that you're pregnant? I know you didn't get a chance to tell me yourself, but I am so, so happy for you guys." In the traditional family manner, he scratched the back of his head. "To be honest, I actually almost squealed when I found out because I was so happy!"

Bulma's lip began to tremble. Here was Gohan, a hard working, honest, good boy. A young man with the brains and the talent to do anything he wanted. Gifted at all he attempted, his future really was unlimited. And she had to tell him that his life was never going to be the same again…

It was too much for her. A heart wrenching sob came from the emotional woman, and she immediately buried her face in her hands.

Gohan felt terrible. Maybe she had wanted really, really badly to tell everyone personally. Maybe she really was just a 'hormonal nightmare' as her husband had claimed she would be. Maybe…maybe this child wasn't planned either, and she was not ready to deal with it yet. He wasn't sure what he had done to set her off, but he was fairly certain that it was all his fault.

"Don't cry, Bulma!" he begged. "I know that this is big, but it's wonderful, too! I mean, a new life is always a blessing and a joy!"

That only made her cry harder, which made Gohan cringe more. "Oh, geez, Bulma, please tell me what to do to make you stop crying…"

Hormones clashed with genuine misery, and Bulma found herself screaming in her mind to get a grip. This moment was not supposed to be about her. It was supposed to be about Gohan, about Chi-Chi, and about what had to happen next.

In her current state, though, she would never be able to get through it. "I feel terrible saying this right now," she choked out, "but could you step outside for, like, five minutes? I swear, that's all the time I'll need to calm down right now."

"Of course!" Gohan instantly agreed. He jumped to his feet and grabbed his backpack, thankful for the break. "I'll check on you in five minutes. Until then, I'll be in your reception area starting on my homework."

Bulma was too emotional at the moment to give a clear answer, but Gohan easily interpreted her wave and made a beeline for the door. Enemies with skyrocketing power levels were one thing. Scary, crying pregnant women, though, terrified him (and, he suspected, every other man on the planet).

Gohan quickly closed her impressive office doors behind him and scurried for a chair in the reception area. When the secretary gave him a confused look, all the boy could do was laugh nervously and, once again, scratch his head. "She, uh, apparently needs a few more minutes to get ready."

The young woman behind the desk rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, she does that sometimes. I wouldn't normally agree so readily, but since you've known her on a personal level for a while, I think it will be okay."

With an amused smile, the boy nodded and opened up his backpack. A small part of him was actually grateful for the way his day seemed to be going. It was rare for him to have a chance to study before ten at night, and that would help him get his work done a little quicker.

Almost ten minutes later, a buzzing noise sounded. "Stacey, can you send Mr. Son in here, please?"

The blonde smiled and shook her head. "Of course, Mrs. Briefs," she replied, her voice much more professional than her expression. She let go of the intercom button and giggled at the teenager in front of her. "I believe she's ready for you now."

The half Saiyan quickly tucked his books and notes back in his pack, as once again entered Bulma's office. As he closed the door behind him, he offered her a mischievous smile. "Ready for take two?"

"I hope so," she quietly asked. She had managed to stop crying, but there was no mistaking the fact that she was still sad. "Gohan, take a seat."

Any levity at all in Gohan's demeanor vanished. Hormones could only be blamed for so much. This was a clear indicator that it was not going to be a happy conversation. He slowly sat down in the chair opposite the scientist and placed his hands on the desk. "Okay."

Bulma took a sip from a cup of tea that had not been there ten minutes earlier. "Okay," she whispered to herself. "Okay, just get it out there…"

"Bulma," Gohan asked with concern, "what's going on?"

The heiress placed her cup down, got to her feet, and walked around to Gohan's side. She wrapped her arms around him and held him as tightly as she could. "Oh, honey," she softly spoke in his ear, "the important thing for you to remember right now is that we are here for you, and we love you."

"Bulma, you're scaring me…"

She sat on her desk and cupped Gohan's face in her hands, offering a sad smile. Her lip began to quiver as she brought her hands down, but she was determined to keep herself together for their talk.

"Gohan," she softly began, "I am so, so sorry to be the one to tell you this, but…but…" The mother swallowed what little saliva she had, forcing herself to keep going. "Gohan, I'm afraid your mother passed away today."

His entire body went numb. "No," he whispered. "No, no, she was fine this morning…"

"Gohan…" Bulma sympathetically tried to begin.

"I mean, she was a little tired last night, but it was midnight!" he kept going. "Anyone would have been tired then! She made breakfast this morning, she told me she had…had a clock for me…she…she…"

Gohan sat there, trembling, unable to process the news. It just didn't make sense to him. It didn't seem possible. It _couldn't_ be possible.

"No," he whispered, staring at the desk.

"No..."


	4. Chapter 4

Trunks frowned as he spun a cookie in his fingers. Goten might have been happy with the outrageous amount of attention and junk food they had been getting all afternoon, but after those first few cookies, Trunks knew something was up. No one, in their right mind, would give them that much sugar unless they were going to be used as demi-Saiyan missiles against an enemy. And even on their birthdays they were not allowed to get away with some of the stuff they had been trying that afternoon.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, and no one wanted him to know what it was. And whatever it was, it was big.

The little prince wanted answers, and he wanted them immediately. He shot a glance over at his usual partner in crime and shook his head. The younger boy was practically in a sugar induced coma, and therefore a useless accomplish. The mission would have to be done solo.

He placed the enormous cookie he had been playing with back down on the plate and excused himself. Curiosity had finally gotten the better of him, and come hell or high water, he was going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. He slid his way into the living room and closed his eyes, focusing his attention. His father had always taught him that if at all possible, the first thing to do in a crisis is identify where all known allies are.

Trunks furrowed his lavender eyebrows. Yamcha was a few cities over, doing whatever it was he did. Gohan was with his mom in her office, but that wasn't particularly unusual. Their energies seemed a little off, but not enough for the boy to assume that they were the source of the problem.

No, there were things that were much more odd than that, like Piccolo hovering near the city or his father and Krillen being over at the Son house when _clearly_ there was no one else there. _That_ was odd.

The boy frowned even deeper. What on earth was going on?

Trunks quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching him before sliding to the living room windows. Making as little sound as possible, he cracked it open and headed out into the darkening sky. He was taking a calculated risk, leaving his designated area in what was clearly a time of crisis, but he needed to know what was going on if he wanted to be of any use at all. If he wanted blunt answers and he wanted them fast, there was one surefire person to ask.

His father.

/////

Gohan sat in that large chair, resting his elbow on his knees and letting his hands fall limp as he stared at the floor. His entire body felt like it was numb. He could understand on an academic level what he had been told, but the entire concept of his mother being gone just didn't feel like it could possibly be real. In times of strife, Gohan always ended up falling to one of two coping mechanisms: emotionless logic or emotionally chaotic violence.

At the moment, logic was winning.

"So," he coolly began, "what's the first thing that we have to do?"

Bulma, seated in the chair on his right, let out a tired sigh. "The first steps have been taken," she softly spoke, "and the basic arrangements have been made. There is, however, something that you and I need to talk about immediately.:

The heiress slid her chair closer to that of the teen and placed a loving hand on his shoulder. "I can't even begin to imagine how hard this must be for you, but before we can do anything else, we need to talk about you and Goten." She took a minute to take a deep breath, fighting to maintain her composure. "Now, I don't want you to feel like a decision needs to be made right now, but in order to minimize future problems, I need to be able to tell child services that the situation is being dealt with."

Keeping his empty eyes on the floor, Gohan nodded. "You're talking about who Goten and I are going to live with."

"Right," Bulma softly responded. "Again, I don't want you to make a decision right now. I just want to make sure you know your options, and I want to feel like you can talk to me about any concerns you might have about any of your choices, okay?"

While the majority of his face remained motionless, something dark flashed behind Gohan's eyes. "I don't suppose having a _living _parent take care of us is an option…"

A frown formed on Bulma's face, and she dropped her own eyes at the statement. "At this exact moment in time, no," she tenderly answered. "No, it's not."

Again, Gohan nodded.

"Okay," the heiress repeated. "Okay, so here are some of your choices. Your grandfather, of course, would be the easiest choice from a legal standpoint…"

"He's too old," Gohan quickly countered, his eyes never leaving the floor. "He lacks the energy to take care of someone like Goten, and the statistical likelihood of him passing away before Goten's eighteenth birthday are too high to be worth the risk."

Bulma shrugged. She had reached the same conclusion, but under the circumstances, she refused to add any doubts at the moment. "So he's out," she calmly stated. "You boys are, of course, always welcome to live here with us at Capsule Corp. We have more than enough space for you, our resources can meet with the needs of two young boys like yourselves, and you are already family."

When Gohan did not immediately respond, Bulma knew that meant that the option was officially on the table. Hesitantly, she cleared her throat. There was one other option available, but she knew it was a bad idea.

It was also something that Gohan would never forgive her for keeping from him.

"There is also the option of emancipation."

Slowly, Gohan brought his head up. "What?"

Bulma softly bit down on her lower lip. "Your eighteenth birthday is about twelve weeks away," she pointed out, "and it would be fairly simple for you to submit the paperwork to make you a legal adult now. If you are, in fact declared an adult…" She had to stop and grab her water bottle. Bulma already knew how Gohan would react to her next sentence, and that thought left her throat dry.

After several quick gulps, she placed the bottle back on the table. She uncouthly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before taking yet another calming breath.

"If you are declared a legal adult," Bulma finally said with defeat, "then one option, from a legal standpoint, would be you petitioning for personal guardianship of Goten."

Something seemed to spark in Gohan's eyes. "I could just keep Goten?" he asked. "We could just stay where we are?"

"Gohan," Bulma counseled, "before you start getting too many ideas, you need to consider just what guardianship means."

"It means that we can stay as a family," the teenager firmly stated.

Bulma grabbed Gohan's hand and looked him firmly in the eye. "You will still be a family no matter what," she assured. "No matter who is technically in charge, you and Goten will always, _always_, be a family. But guardianship would mean that _you_ are the sole provider for both you and Goten. Not only would you be responsible for the money, but you would also need to take care of his every need. We would still help any way we could, sweetie, but that would not stop the inspections, the counseling, the overall constant watching that you would be forced to go through. It would be extremely hard, Gohan. Not just for you, but for Goten, too."

With the touch of a mother, she brushed his lone bang away from Gohan's eye. "I said it before, and I'll say it again, sweetie. You should not make any final decision right now. I just needed to officially start the process to keep the government from getting too involved. This way, their eye stays on me for right now and off of you."

When the boy still did not respond, Bulma sighed. "Is there anything I can do for you?" she finally asked.

Gohan leaned back in his chair and gazed around the room with empty eyes. For over two painfully awkward minutes, the room was completely silent, save the sounds of the two occupants breathing.

"Bulma?"

The blue haired beauty jolted slightly in surprise. During the long silence, she had actually managed to get her mind to wander away, and the sudden noise in the room had definitely startled her. "Oh, yeah?"

Gohan sighed as he looked over at the woman beside him. "Can you let me be the one to tell Goten?"

Bulma nodded, leaning in to once again hug the boy in a motherly way. "Of course, sweetie," she softly responded. "Of course."

"And," he hesitantly went on, "can we stay here tonight?"

The beautiful woman smiled sadly. "Your rooms have already been made up."

Gohan nodded again before making his final request. "And…and can I just be alone right now? I promise I'll take care of Goten tonight, but…"

"Shh," Bulma interrupted. She got to her feet and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "You take however much time you need. If you need anything, _anything_, you have my cell phone number."

The teenager whispered his thanks as he was left alone.

/////

Krillen slid away from the small group of people confirming and dealing with the body. He had to get outside, and fast. Trunks' energy signal was coming in fast, and it could only mean bad news. All involved would prefer if Vegeta were the one able to intercept the little prince, but at the moment it would be impossible without making the entire scenario much worse. He was, at the moment, explaining how the body had been found to the authorities. Him walking out in the middle of that would only raise questions, and the mysterious appearance of his son would only make those questions worse.

Unfortunately, Krillen lacked the speed and strength to physically restrain Trunks, should need be, and was going to have to rely entirely on his verbal skills. The former monk quickly made his way outside, and as soon as he was certain that no one could see him, he took to the sky to intercept his target.

He wasn't airborne long. Krillen flared his energy, hoping that it would be enough to catch the boy's attention and stall him long enough to talk to. Luck was on his side, and the purple blur slowed down.

"Krillen," he panted, "what the hell is going on?"

The former monk fought the urge to respond with _You kiss your mother with that mouth?_ "Trunks, can we land? I'll tell you what you need to know, but can we do it on the ground?"

Trunks raised an eyebrow. He glanced over the short man's shoulder, and his blood ran cold. Off in the distance, he could make out his best friend's house. Around it were several cars, some of them with flashing lights on them. In his experience, that was never a good sign. In spite of the fact that he had stopped flying as fast as he could, his heart rate seemed to be getting faster. "Um, sure," he mumbled.

The two descended to the trees beneath them. Trunks sat firmly on a wide branch, and Krillen mirrored him on another one. Trunks rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "Krillen, tell me what's going on. Tell me what's happening down there!"

Krillen sighed. How had he managed to draw the short straw on this? He was terrible at giving bad news! In fact, he had a history of literally running away from it!

"Trunks," he began, "sometimes, things happen in life that…"

The boy knew that opening was adult code for buying time, and as far as he was concerned, there was no time to buy. "Cut the crap and tell me what's going on! What's happening down there? Why are you and Dad here when Auntie Chi-Chi isn't?"

"Oh, she's here."

Krillen's blood froze in his veins. He hadn't meant to say that. It was just one of those sarcastic comments that popped into his head. But every once in a while, those comments never passed through that part of his brain that told him to shut up, and something that was never meant to be spoken out loud, was.

Trunks paled. He might have been a child, but he was a smart one, and he was starting to put the answer together. He and Goten being able to eat and do whatever they wanted, Gohan's slightly jilted energy signal with his mother, the vehicles with flashing lights, not being able to sense Goten's mom…

Tears began to form in his giant blue eyes. "Auntie Chi-Chi…she's dead, isn't she?" he whispered.

Sadly, Krillen nodded. "I'm so sorry, Trunks."

The boy looked over his shoulder, looking in the direction of his own home. He sniffled, looking into the distance as he asked, "Goten doesn't know, does he?" Before Krillen could answer, the child was on his feet. Trunks sniffled again and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I…I should go back…I should…I should be there with Goten…I…I…" A choked sob escaped his throat. "I want my mom and dad…"

Krillen quickly hopped over to Trunks' branch and put a comforting arm around the sobbing child. With any luck at all, the authorities would leave and Trunks could get his wish…

/////

"Hey, Gohan!" Goten called out. The little boy had just woken up from a sugar crash induced nap, and even though he was tired, he was happy. "Are we going home?"

Gohan lowered his eyes for a moment before approaching his kid brother. "Hey, kiddo."

The little boy looked around, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Where'd Trunks go?" he mumbled.

Though Gohan was somewhat wondering the same thing, it was not his most pressing concern. He sat down on the couch and pulled his little brother into his lap. "Goten," he softly began, "there's something that I need to talk to you about…"

/////


	5. Chapter 5

"No, I understand," Bulma calmly said, looking at the report that had just been faxed to her. "Okay. Thank you very much for your promptness on this matter."

The blue haired woman softly hung up the phone as she continued to leaf through the information she had just been given. She had offered generous compensation to the hospital for putting Chi-Chi at the top of the autopsy list, and they had come through beautifully. Their work had started immediately and had been unbelievably thorough. They had even been courteous enough to call her with the results as soon as they had them.

With an exhausted sigh, Bulma closed the file and tossed it on her desk. The answer was, unfortunately, just what she had feared. Chi-Chi had suffered from a fatal heart attack, and the skyrocketed levels of adrenaline and cortisol in her system led them to believe that the most likely factor for it was extremely high levels of stress.

Quiet tears ran down the heiress cheeks as she thought of her dead friend. That poor woman had literally been pushed beyond her limits.

And she had died from a broken heart.

/////

The sun rose slowly over the Son residence. It was a quiet morning, a peaceful and serene. But none of the usual residents of the home were there to enjoy it.

That did not mean that the property was void of life. Krillen casually looked at photos in a feeble attempt to keep himself occupied. Twenty feet away, Piccolo was in a deep meditative state, pushing his mind to its furthest reaches. Another fifty or so feet in the distance, Vegeta was in a similar state.

With a sigh of frustration, Vegeta's eyes snapped open and he stalked toward the house.

"Any luck?" Krillen asked as the agitated prince entered the dwelling.

Vegeta snarled as he sat on the couch. "What the hell do you think?" Angrily he shook his head, trying to regroup his thoughts. "Have you heard any word yet?"

"Negative," the diminutive man replied. As if on cue, the phone began to ring. Krillen grabbed for it so quickly that he actually fumbled it for a minute before he managed to open it. "Hello?" A brief conversation ensued, with Krillen simply agreeing along with whatever he was being told, until he flipped his phone closed.

Hesitantly, he cleared his throat. "We have an answer," he quietly spoke. "It was a stress induced heart attack."

Vegeta's brow furrowed. "Her face…"

Krillen quickly perked up at that reminder. "She was smiling," he remembered. "You said that when you found her, she was smiling…"

As the two men pondered that oddity, Piccolo quietly entered the house. "I have been unable to establish any form of contact with either Goku or any of the Kais. In so far as I am aware, Goku still has no idea."

With a despondent sigh, Krillen nodded. He softly picked up the piece of paper he had hunted down in the home and tucked it into his jacket before heading out. His job at the house was officially done.

/////

He didn't come. True, no one had managed to contact him in the week it had been, but still...

The funeral had been a quiet affair. Too quiet. Neither of the boys were in any condition to give a eulogy, and other than them, Bulma alone had been close enough to the deceased woman to pull a memorial service together. For a brief moment she had considered inviting others to step forward and share their memories of Chi-Chi, but that idea had been short lived. It made her sad to think about, but to the vast majority of the group, Chi-Chi had been known only as the wife of Goku and the mother of Gohan and Goten.

They had no knowledge of her as a person.

As the funeral drew to a close, the various members of the group were fairly quick to leave. None of them had faced a permanent death in quite some time, and no one seemed certain what to do next. So they simply offered their condolences, told the boys to call if they needed anything, and left.

After the last of the guests had gone, Bulma approached Gohan. She placed a loving hand on his shoulder before pulling him in to a hug. "Come on, sweetie," she softly spoke, "let's get you boys back inside."

Numbly, Gohan nodded. A cool autumn breeze had started during the outdoor funeral, and the teenager knew he had to get his brother inside. Poor little Goten had been so distraught during the ceremony that he had cried himself into exhaustion and collapsed into a ball. As Gohan turned to where Goten had lain, though, he found the spot bare.

With a soft chuckle at the bewildered look on Gohan's face, Bulma used her thumb to point toward her car. When Gohan looked, he found Vegeta carrying the exhausted boy into the back area, and Trunks climbing in behind.

"Oh," Gohan softly said. With no further response of any kind, he followed suit and entered the car. Not one word was spoken on the entire journey back to the compound. Not one word was uttered by that boy for the rest of the day.

/////

A week passed in unnerving silence. No words, shy of those absolutely necessary, were spoken. Goten kept himself by Trunks' side. Despite being offered his own room, the little boy could not bear to tear himself away from his best friend. He ate when Trunks ate. He slept when Trunks slept. Not a move he made was done without Trunks by his side, doing the exact same thing.

Gohan, meanwhile, kept himself cloistered away in the compound's library. He threw himself into his studies more fiercely than he had ever done before in his life. So vigorously did he work that he set up a cot and took all his meals in the room. His obsession reached the point where he refused to take a break for any reason. Even Videl proved unable to break his drive. He studied hard from before the sun rose until well after it set. Despite being granted a leave of absence from school, the boy could not back away from his work.

Neither brother seemed to be able to be near the other.

After that agonizing week, Bulma entered the library with a briefcase in her hand. "Gohan," she very quietly began, "you and I need to talk."

Gohan nodded, but did not look up from his textbook. "I'll be right with you," he mumbled, not even pausing with his notes.

"No, Gohan," the woman replied, her voice caring yet firm, "we need to talk now."

Again, the teenager failed to look up from his work. "Okay," he simply replied, still focusing on his work, "what did you want to talk about?"

With a gentle touch, Bulma placed her hand over the text. She placed a marker in the pages and slowly guided the book shut. "No, Gohan," she softly said again. "I need you to be paying attention to me for this. This is very important, and I need your fullest attention."

Gohan closed his eyes, clearly frustrated. "Bulma, I really need to study…"

"I understand," she gently interrupted. "I really do. But what I need to talk to you about needs to be addressed immediately, and I need you to pay full attention to me. This will affect both you and your brother."

The agitated teenager kept his eyes shut, but he did nod along. "Very well," he tensely replied. "What do I need to take care of?"

Bulma sighed. This was not going to be an easy conversation. "The time has come to make a decision about where you and Goten are going to live, and who is to be in charge of the two of you."

Gohan narrowly opened his eyes, glaring slightly at the woman beside him. "I will take care of Goten."

"Not good enough," the heiress bluntly responded. With conviction, she placed her briefcase on top of the piles of textbooks and notes, deliberately blocking any attempt Gohan might have at ignoring her for his studies. "You are a full time student and working long hours as it is. No judge in their right mind is going to grant guardianship to someone who will never be home."

"I'll finish my education in correspondence," Gohan countered. "Goten can go to school during the day and I can work during those hours."

Bulma closed her eyes and her heart as she uttered her next sentence. "Not at Capsule Corp you won't."

Furiously, Gohan snarled. "What?"

"Our internship program is for people who are actively pursuing a career in the sciences," she bluntly stated. "If you drop out of your current school, you lose all teacher recommendations. And you clearly would not be able to enroll full time in a university program if you are raising your brother. Also, all intern hours are in the part of the day that you would dub 'after school'. It would require you to be here, regardless of what hours you chose to study. That would eliminate you as a candidate for our program."

"Then I'll find a job that I can do during the day," he countered.

"No," Bulma once again countered bluntly. "Not good enough. No job out there that you could get without so much as a high school diploma yet is never going to earn you enough to take care of your brother. Like I said, no sane judge would grant you guardianship under these conditions." She opened up the briefcase and began reaching for paperwork, but nearly lost her finger tips when it was slammed back shut.

With a small amount of fear, Bulma looked up and met Gohan's teal eyes. "I am sorry that I mislead you earlier," she firmly apologized. "At the time, I thought it was a possibility. But I had not been given enough time to research it fully before I gave you the information. I have done exhaustive research on this, Gohan. I have looked for any possible loophole that might allow you to reasonably assume the guardianship that I know you want. But it's not going to be possible."

From the doorway, a low growl sounded. Both occupants of the room looked to the entryway where Vegeta stood, arms crossed but clearly on alert. With slow, deliberate steps, he approached the pair.

Softly, Bulma spoke to him. "I told you I would handle this alone."

Vegeta's eyes, lightening in their own color, locked fiercely with Gohan's clearly teal ones. "Not when he's like this."

At first she meant to protest, but as she thought about how close she had come not one minute earlier to getting hurt, she knew he had a point. In an odd way, it was sort of sweet to watch him protecting her.

With a deep breath, Bulma reaffirmed her conviction. "Gohan," she clearly stated, "I need to get the paperwork started today for someone to assume guardianship. If I do not, both you and Goten will become wards of the state. You will immediately be placed into foster care, and it will take us a significant amount of time to release you from the program. You may yet push for your own emancipation, but we need to select a guardian for Goten. Now."

Though he made no obvious signs of aggression, it was clear to both Bulma and Vegeta that Gohan's temper was barely being contained. Vegeta slowly moved around his wife, positioning himself between her and Gohan. Not completely, but enough to stop the boy should it prove the moment his temper snapped.

Delicately, Bulma reached again for her briefcase. She opened it again, slowly this time, and pulled out the papers she needed. "This is the preliminary paperwork, at least the parts that you and I can do without a legal counselor of some sort present. I am sorry, Gohan, but I told you a week ago that today would be the deadline, and this is one are that I just can't use my pull to buy us any more time in."

With a curt nod, Gohan looked away. "If I can't be Goten's guardian, then you will be. Goten will be well taken care of here, and he will be happy having Trunks around at all times. It is the best possible solution at our immediate disposal."

Bulma nodded. "And you?"

Gohan shrugged indifferently. "It'll take more than the ten weeks between now and when I turn eighteen just to get through the court system," he logically concluded. "I may as well have my own guardianship turned over to you as well."

The heiress nodded. "I'll get started on this immediately, then," she quietly confirmed. "Gohan, is there anything I can get for you? Anything I can do for you?"

The teenager shook his head. "No."

Sensing that the conversation had gone as far as it could, Bulma gathered up her briefcase and left. The stress of the past weeks, Gohan's emotions, and her own pregnancy had left her so physically exhausted that she held some doubts that she could make it all the way to her office. She headed for the living room, the nearest area with a couch suitable for sleeping in.

She needed it.

As she disappeared, Gohan turned his eyes to the prince beside him. "You didn't have to be here," he defended. "I have never, in my life, hurt my own kin. I would never hurt Bulma."

"You have never hurt your kin because you have always had an enemy to turn your rage on," the prince growled. "You have always had an appropriate target. But you were alone with the woman, and you still powered up. She proved no threat to you, and you still made a move."

Gohan closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. It was true. Bulma, the single weakest member of the group, had confronted him about something that he had been well aware of, a topic he had deliberately put off thinking about. And still he had treated her like a physical threat.

He had never done that before…

As a large range of emotions quickly began to cross Gohan's startled face, Vegeta simply rolled his eyes and pulled out a small piece of paper. "Here." When the teenager didn't move, the prince tossed the paper on top of the nearest textbook. "When you're ready to pull the stick out of your ass, you know where to find me."

Slowly, as the prince left the room, Gohan picked up the paper that was left behind. He stared in shock as he realized what it was.

Vegeta's private code for the gravity room.


	6. Chapter 6

Trunks squirmed in his bed. It had been a month since Chi-Chi had died, and Goten had slept in his bed every night except the first one. That, he had spent with his brother. The remaining nights, though, had seen the two boys crashing together. Trunks cared about Goten, and they had slept in the same bed a thousand times before, but not every night for a month straight. Goten snored and kicked in his sleep, and while Trunks could occasionally sleep through it, it had been keeping him up more often than not. It was starting to wear on the little prince's nerves.

But come hell or high water, he would not boot out his best friend. No number of sleep deprived nights would get him to kick Goten out in a time of need.

That didn't mean it wasn't occasionally tempting…

It was almost two in the morning. The lights had long been turned out inside the compound, but Trunks could still see clearly around the room. Ambient light from the city always kept the rooms at least a little lit. An occasional car would drive by outside, but other than that, it was silent.

On the other side of the bed, Goten moved. Trunks rolled his eyes and scooted over, trying to move out of the way before the kicking started, but he was caught off guard when instead of a foot, he was met with a voice.

"Trunks?" Goten whispered.

The lavender haired boy rolled over and looked at his friend. "Yeah, Goten?"

The younger of the pair squirmed slightly, a little embarrassed about his question. "Um, do you think that my mom is in heaven?"

Trunks squinted at his best friend. "Of course she is, Goten."

A minute passed in silence before Goten asked, "What do you do when you're in heaven?"

"I hear that you get to do whatever you want," Trunks answered.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Trunks responded. "It's a lot of fun there."

Goten sat up in the bed and leaned his body against the wall. He seemed to consider something for a moment. "So, what you're saying is that she's doing all of her favorite things, because that's what you do in heaven?"

Trunks propped himself up against the pillows and looked at his friend. "Well, yeah. She's in heaven, and when you're in heaven, you do your favorite stuff, so that's what she must be doing right now."

"But how can she?" the dark haired boy asked.

"It's heaven," Trunks responded, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They have everything there."

"But," Goten began, his lower lip trembling a little bit, "Mommy always said that her favorite thing to do in the world was to play with me and Gohan, and me and Gohan aren't there, so how can she be playing with us?"

That was certainly something Trunks had never thought about. "I dunno," he admitted. "Maybe she's got like a magic pretend Gohan and Goten to play with until you guys actually get there."

"But that isn't the same, is it?" the dark haired boy asked.

Trunks' eyebrows narrowed as his mind furiously raced. He really, truly, did not have any of the answers that he knew his best friend wanted, but even he knew better than to admit as much. If Goten needed an answer in order to feel better, then damn it, Trunks was going to give him an answer.

"Maybe she just can't tell that it's a pretend one," he casually responded. "You know, like a spell is on her right now to help her think that it's the real you, so she can be happy until you die and go to heaven to play with her."

Goten nodded for a moment before frowning. "Does that mean that Mommy is just as happy with a pretend me as she would be with the _real_ me?"

"No!" Trunks immediately protested. "Your mom will _always_ need you!"

"But then how can she be happy without me and Gohan there?"

Trunks felt like smacking himself in the forehead, but he did manage to suppress the urge. "I don't know, Goten," he said. "I didn't really take notes during the two hours _we_ were dead. I was paying more attention to other stuff than what heaven was like."

The younger boy had not thought of that. Just a few months ago, they _had_ been dead. Buu blew up the entire planet, along with them. They actually had been to the other side and back. "I forgot that we were dead. But I kind of remember what it was like now. I remember," the younger boy softly spoke, "that there were a lot of flowers there. And the grass was real soft, even softer than the stuff that grows in that meadow that you and I sometimes play tag in. I don't remember much else about it, but I do remember it was real nice."

"See?" Trunks responded in a reassuring tone. "It wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No," Goten said with a small smile. "It was really nice."

"See?" the little prince said again. "You're mom's fine!"

For a few minutes, the two boys simply sat in silence, thinking about everything they had been talking about. In the month it had been since Chi-Chi's death, they had never once really talked about it. Goten did not like thinking about it, and Trunks did not want to risk doing anything that would make Goten start crying again.

That first month had been rough on both of them, mostly Goten. It took a week for him to be able to get through the day without crying at least once, and another two weeks before he could get through a few days. Actually talking about anything even remotely associated with it just seemed downright impossible.

But at that moment, it actually seemed to be okay.

"Hey, Trunks?"

The little prince blinked, slightly startled by the noise. It was two in the morning, and he had actually started to drift off in the middle of the silence. "Yeah, Goten?"

Goten squirmed in the bed again, once again laying down. "How long do you think it's going to be before I get to play with my mom again?"

Trunks yawned as he pulled the blankets up around his shoulders again. "Unless the planet somehow gets blown up again, Goten, probably not for a really, really, really long time."

The younger boy sat up eagerly, but was swiftly brought back down hard by his best friend. "No blowing up the world, Goten."

Goten giggled. "It was just a thought!" He nestled under the covers, too. "Hey, do you think that my mom's still going to want to play all of my favorite games with me, even when I'm a little old man?"

"Of course she will," Trunks yawned, closing his bright blue eyes. "She's your mom. That's what mom's do."

The younger of the pair closed his eyes, too. "I guess that just means that I'm going to have to wait…"

"Pretty much," the little prince mumbled.

Goten snuggled against his pillow, that small smile back on his face. "I guess that I should start doing a lot of cool stuff so that I have a lot of good stories when I finally get to see Mommy again."

Trunks groaned slightly as he got just a little deeper under the blankets. "That sounds like a great idea, Goten, but can we get you started in the morning? I'm really tired right now…"

"Yeah," the younger boy agreed. "Mom will really like that…"


	7. Chapter 7

Gohan stared at his alarm clock, daring it to go off. It was three minutes before five in the morning, but the half blood was more than awake. Almost an hour earlier, some car alarm had gone off over a mile away, and the poor teenager had not been able to fall asleep since.

"Come on," he grumbled. "Just ring already!"

There was nothing that was preventing him from simply turning the alarm off early and getting up right then except his own neurotic tendencies. He had, for years, gotten out of bed at five a.m. sharp, and there was a part of him that could not break that cycle.

It was going to be difficult enough breaking from his normal morning routine without worrying about how he got up. Under normal circumstances, Gohan woke up at five, meditated for an hour, took his morning shower, ate breakfast, and went to school. It was rare that he broke from his standard morning protocol, and that usually happened because he slept through his alarm.

That had not happened since that day his life got thrown into a tailspin.

But that morning was destined to be different. He had taken up Vegeta on his offer to spar first thing in the morning. There were a thousand feelings he had about the scenario racing through his overly alert mind in that early hour. Getting his blood moving again with a good spar usually got him in a good mood, but Vegeta's ideas of what happened in a spar could be more than intimidating. That prince thought that if you were not bleeding, you were not trying.

That did not, though, mean that he could will himself out of his bed before the alarm was meant to ring.

The teenager glared at the alarm. "Ring, damn it, ring!"

"You know, talking to inanimate objects is a sign of insanity."

With a startled cry, Gohan leapt out of his bed. "How the hell did you get in here?" he demanded.

Vegeta quirked an eyebrow at the clearly startled teenager. "The door," he bluntly stated.

"Impossible," Gohan protested. "I've been awake for an hour! There's no way you could have snuck in without me noticing!"

"I didn't sneak in," Vegeta clarified in a slightly agitated tone. "I opened your damn door and walked in over a minute ago. You were too busy staring at that stupid clock to notice. Now, will you be training this morning, or should I let you get back to the clock?"

Gohan looked from the prince, to the clock, back to the prince, and back once more to the clock. "I didn't…"

"You did," Vegeta interrupted. "Now get your damn training clothes on and haul ass to the gravity room!"

Automatically responding to the commanding tone, Gohan jumped over to the dresser and pulled out his training pants as the prince left the room. It had been a long time since someone had flat out ordered him to do something. There had been a lot of sympathetic requests made, but no direct command had been given to him since his mother had died.

In an odd way, Gohan found it comforting to be bossed around.

In no time at all, the teenager was entering the training grounds. He had only ever trained in the hallowed gravity room a handful of times in his life, all of which had been in the first two years after the Cell fight. In the past few years, the only times he had entered the room were to rescue Goten from Vegeta's version of grounding someone.

"Okay," he quietly said, mostly to himself. "Let's get started."

Without uttering a word, Vegeta turned on the machine and set it for two hundred times Earth's standard gravity.

Gohan fell immediately.

"Oh, holy crap," he grunted as he struggled to get up. "Okay, I'm apparently a little tired. Just give me a minute to…"

The poor teenager found himself hauled to his feet and slammed against the wall. "I thought you came here for a spar," Vegeta taunted, "not to go back to bed."

"Spar!" Gohan choked out. "Not die!"

The elder fighter threw Gohan across the room. "Are you going to fight?" he demanded.

With an extremely strained grunt, Gohan forced his way to his feet. He felt the fire begin to burn in his veins, a feeling that he loved. Even though he was not as serious a fighter as the generation before him, Gohan was still Saiyan enough to revel in the sport of a good, bloody fight.

Unfortunately for him, as he tried to get his energy up, Vegeta was already on top of the fight. The prince cracked the younger fighter fiercely across the jaw, not looking the slightest bit remorseful for his actions.

Gohan grunted in pain and staggered a step back. The majority of his training in the past had been with his father or Piccolo, and they had always taken it easy on the first few swings. They both allowed him a full warm up before they got serious about the fight. Vegeta, though, offered no such thing.

Suddenly very aware of how serious his situation was, Gohan snapped into action. He whipped around and swung his leg fiercely at his opponent. The two super powers clashed violently and freely. They tore at each other wildly. Blood began to pour, bones began to crack, and energy burns crossed both of them all over. For three full hours, the two titans fought with each other.

It was fantastic.

/

"Ow," Gohan whimpered as he limped down the hallway.

"Oh, suck it up," Vegeta responded, opening the room to the medical room. Even though the pureblooded Saiyan thought that the wounds were hardly serious enough to warrant that much attention, he knew that the woman would have an absolute fit if he just left the boy to bleed. "Get in."

The teenager practically crawled onto the nearest bed. He was fairly certain that at least three of his ribs had cracks, along with his clavicle and a couple parts of his left leg. His clothes were soaking in blood, both his and his opponent's. There was a tissue crammed up his nostrils to try to stop the bleeding from his broken nose. Already his skin was turning black and blue all over with vicious bruises.

The only other time in his life Gohan had gotten beaten that badly had been by, well, Vegeta, back when he had first arrived.

The teenager hissed as he pulled his injured leg on to the table. "What kind of equipment do you have here?"

Vegeta snorted. "This is the most technologically advanced compound on this planet," he grumbled. "We have everything. What is it that you need?"

Gohan tilted his head back and made a disgusting noise somewhere between a gurgle and a snort. "A place to spit would be great."

"Here."

The teenager barely saw the plastic cup out of the corner of his eye, but he still managed to catch it with ease. "Thanks," he muttered, spitting out clumps of blood and mucus. It took a little while, but Gohan finally was able to put the cup down. "Um, Vegeta?"

"Hn?"

Gohan pulled the tissues from his nose and dropped their bloody remains in the half filled cup. "Can you help me with this? I know how to do arms and legs and ribs, but I've never actually set a broken nose before."

Silently, the prince stalked over and grabbed Gohan by the jaw. He studied it quickly, assessing the damage, before forcing the cartilage back as it should have been. The younger man hissed, trying his hardest not to show pain in front of Vegeta. It was not so much a matter of his own pride as it was a desire to avoid a lecture on Saiyan pride.

"Thanks," he coughed, tenderly pushing the sensitive flesh around his injury. "Where's…"

With a thud a bag landed on the table, and Gohan recognized it instantly as a medical bag. "Oh, thanks."

Vegeta just grunted an undiscernibly reply as he tended to his own injuries. He was under strict orders to be nice to the boy, under threat of living on the couch, but even with that threat looming over his head the prince could only be so 'nice'. It was not part of his nature, and he had no intention of starting now.

As he patched himself back together, Gohan actually had the barest hint of a smile on his face. Vegeta was treating him with no softness, no sympathy, and no pity at all. After a month of having people soft stepping around his every move and treating him delicately, it was refreshing to be treated as a self reliant entity.

"How long do you think it's going to take for me to heal enough to do this again?" he asked.

"Day and a half," the prince casually responded, not even bothering to look up from what he was doing.

Gohan raised an eyebrow at that estimate. The last time he had been badly injured it had taken weeks for him to be fighting again. The mere concept of trying to give a repeat performance in a mere thirty six hours was extremely intimidating.

"Are you sure that I'll be ready in…"

"Yes," Vegeta bit out, glaring at the boy. "You will not be completely healed, but you will be well enough to fight again."

Gohan quietly continued to clean up his wounds, considering what he had been told. It was yet another new concept to the teenager. Under his mother's rules, he was restrained from sparring if he had any injury more serious than a bruise. She made him wait until he was as healed as possible before letting him fight again.

In a day and a half, though they would be substantially more healed than they would be on a human, his ribs would still have cracks in them. Getting back in the ring was going to hurt like hell. Or, at least, he assumed it would. He had never started a spar injured before. In an odd way, he was actually eager to try it.

"Well, I guess that means that we won't be sparring tomorrow morning," Gohan mentioned. "What do you usually do when you're waiting for your injuries to heal?"

Vegeta looked at Gohan as though the teenager was daft. "I train."

Gohan blinked in confusion. "No, I meant when you're injured like I am."

"I train."

Gohan was not sure why that statement surprised him, but it did. Vegeta being driven to train was hardly news, but somehow, Gohan had never thought about the man continuing on while injured. It simply had never crossed his mind.

The teenager did not even realize he was starting to form his thoughts out loud when he did. "I suppose that really does make sense," he mumbled, lost in thought. "It is a lot easier to deal with physical pain than emo-"

"If you don't stop that sentence immediately, I am going to go over there and break your nose all over again," the prince darkly threatened. "Now finish tending to your wounds and go do whatever it is that passes for entertainment on this planet."

"What?"

Vegeta finished cleaning up his own supplies. "Your school does not operate on weekends, and the woman told me that you are far advanced enough in your studies to warrant an afternoon where academia is prohibited."

"Wait," Gohan said, putting down the medical tape, "what are you saying?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "I am saying that you are under orders to act like a seventeen year old. Watch television. Go to the movies. Get laid. Whatever it is, it is not to be school related."

Gohan's cheeks turned bright red at the suggestion. "Sorry, it just seems odd for you to be telling someone to relax."

"The woman's the one who is demanding that you relax," the prince clarified. "I am simply relaying the message."

That did not help Gohan's embarrassment level. "Are telling me that _Bulma_ suggested that I…you know…"

Again, Vegeta rolled his eyes. "To be accurate, she demanded that you relax and pitched the first two ideas. Personally, I think that last one would do you a world of good."

A slightly annoying beeping noise sounded as the intercom system turned on. "Hey, Dad?" Trunks called out.

The senior prince approached the wall and pressed the corresponding button. "What?"

"Mom's throwing up and swearing at you again. I think you should get up here."

With a groan, Vegeta released the button and left the device alone. He closed the medical supply cabinet they had raided and sighed as he began to leave the room. "Be careful with that last suggestion, though," he growled. "It can get you into trouble."


	8. Chapter 8

Gohan stared at the telephone, hoping it would ring on its own. There was a phone call that he really did not want to make in his near future, and there was a small part of him that genuinely hoped that the other party would beat him to the punch. He sincerely hated initiating awkward conversations.

However, since it had only been a few hours earlier that Vegeta had taunted him about asking an appliance to ring, Gohan cringed and picked up the phone.

His fingers dialed on autopilot, and Gohan waited tensely as he heard it ring. As he heard the other line get picked up, he swallowed hard. "Hi," he nervously spoke, "it's me…"

/

Goten hopped up and down on the bed. "We need to have an adventure, Trunks!" he giddily cried. "We need to have a really fun, crazy, wild adventure so that I can tell my mommy all about it when I see her again!"

"Yeah, we will," Trunks agreed, though clearly tense. "We'll think of something, Goten, but can I just take a nap first?"

"No!" the younger of the pair pouted. "Trunks, we can't wait any more! It's been, like, a _month_ since we've done anything crazy! We _never_ go that long! I mean, we haven't gotten in trouble or anything! We _always_ get in trouble right after we do something _really _fun!"

Trunks rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. Goten had kept him up almost the entire night, eagerly trying to come up with adventures they could have. While he would never stop supporting his best friend, Trunks swore that if he did not get some rest, and soon, he was going to have to punch Goten in the face.

"What do you think we should do, Trunks?" Goten went on. "You always come up with the best ideas. We always get in lots of trouble, but they're so much fun that they're totally worth it!"

"Good to know," the little prince muttered. "Seriously, Goten, if I could just get an hour to…"

"Do you think that we should travel around the world?" Goten interrupted. "That could be a lot of fun. Oh, but that would take a long time, wouldn't it? I mean, if we want to see anything at all at any of those places, it's gonna take days, and I don't think that we can stay out for that long without your dad catching us…"

Trunks placed his forehead on his desk as he listened to his best friend yammer on and on and on about his various ideas for great adventures. Slowly but surely, he felt his body relaxing as he tuned the other boy out. After several minutes, he finally felt himself on the very verge of drifting off.

That was when Goten pitched his most enthusiastic idea.

"We should get the dragon balls!"

That woke Trunks up with a start. "NO!"

Goten blinked, looking at his best friend with great confusion. "Why can't we get the dragon balls?" he pouted.

"Because I am under very strict orders to never, ever hunt them out unless the world is about to be blown up or my parents are giving me a direct order," Trunks firmly stated. "That one's definitely off the table."

"But why?" the younger boy whined. "We're told not to do _lots_ of stuff that we do! What about the time we dressed up in that guys costume so we could fight the grown-ups in the tournament? We weren't supposed to do that, but we did it anyway."

Trunks shook his head. "This one's different."

Goten still looked extremely confused. "How is this different?" he asked.

"Because," Trunks clarified, "this one was explained to me by Dad, with a lot of vocabulary I needed clarified, in a way that reminds us all that he was not always a good guy." He shuddered slightly as he remembered that talk. With Trunks' penchant for mischief, both parents decided to make sure that the hunt for the dragon balls was not something their son would pursue. Vegeta had made sure, in no uncertain terms, that his son would not be doing anything foolish with the mystical orbs.

The younger boy did not look happy about that. "That's not fair!" he pouted. "Your mom and my dad and the other grown-ups got to go look for them! Why can't we?"

"Remember how you said that we always get in trouble?" Trunks tried to reason.

"Yeah?"

"Think of how much trouble you and I could get into if _we_ had something that could grant us any wish we could think of."

Goten seemed to consider that for a moment. "I guess you're right," he eventually relented. "Shoot. That was the only really good idea I could come up with. You're better at getting ideas than I am."

"Only when I get some sleep," Trunks pointed out, his exhaustion catching up with him once more. "Tell you what, Goten. How about you and I take a little nap right now, and in an hour or so, we can come up with a _really_ crazy idea together. Does that sound good?"

Goten's face lit up instantly. "You mean it, Trunks?"

"Yeah," the elder boy assured, letting out a tired yawn. "As long as you actually let me sleep…"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" the black haired boy cried out. He lunged forward, grabbed his best friend by the shoulders, and tossed him onto the bed. "The sooner you fall asleep, the sooner you can wake up and we can start planning our adventure." Before Trunks could react, Goten had pulled the covers up and fluffed the pillows. "Is there anything I can do to help you sleep? Sometimes, when I can't sleep, Mommy or Gohan would get me some warm milk. Do you want me to get you some warm milk, Trunks? Would that help you sleep faster? Why don't I go downstairs and get some…"

"GOTEN!" Trunks shouted.

The younger boy stopped in his tracks. "Yes, Trunks?"

"I don't need any milk or anything," he assured his best friend. "Just, you know, turn off the lights and stay quiet."

Goten squirmed a little and looked at his feet. "Um, Trunks?" he quietly said. "I'm not so good at staying quiet."

"I know," Trunks responded. "Why don't you put a movie in my computer and plug in the headphones? I can sleep through that much light, and the new headset Mom made me won't let any sound from the movie get out to me. I won't hear a thing."

"Okay!" Goten replied. "Hey, Trunks?"

"Hn?"

Goten walked up to the bed and hugged his friend dearly. "You're the best friend I could ever hope to have."

Trunks smiled softly and returned the hug. "And you're mine," he replied. He gave the other boy a pat on the shoulder and got comfortable in his bed. "I'll see you in an hour or so."

"Okie dokie!"

Within a minute of the lights going down, Trunks was out like a light. Goten half watched the movie in silence, wondering just what great scheme he and Trunks would come up with. It was all just so exciting!

/

Gohan landed on the expansive balcony and shyly tapped on the window pane. He nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot as he waited for his girlfriend to open up the window and let him inside.

Videl was quick, and she smiled gently at her love as she lifted the large window. "Hey, sweetie!" she greeted. "Long time, no see!"

"Um, yeah," Gohan nervously replied. His cheeks were bright red and he began to scratch the back of his head. There was more than a little guilt in him for ignoring everyone else for so long. "I'm sorry about that…"

"Hey, don't worry about it," the girl assured. "Sometimes you need to do what's best for you."

Gohan shook his head. "I wasn't really doing anything more than schoolwork…"

Videl interrupted him before he could finish his thought. "Sweetheart, sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself in to run away from the world for a little bit. I remember, when my mom died, I did the exact same thing."

The tall boy suddenly felt even worse. His girlfriend, one of the closest people to him, had already lived through the same ordeal. She had told him about it before, but somehow, in the grief and the chaos, Gohan had completely forgotten about it.

"I blocked out everyone," she further explained. "I just trained and trained and trained. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about how different things were going to be." She paused for a moment before reaching out and grasped Gohan's hands firmly in her own. "More than anything else, I didn't want to see that look of pity on everyone's face. That look alone was so much worse than anything else in the world."

Gohan nodded and sat down on the bed, holding Videl tight as he did. "I know what you mean," he answered. "Ever since Mom's funeral, everyone's been treating me so…so…"

"Delicately?" Videl supplied.

The boy nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "And I just couldn't stand being treated like that."

Videl snuggled up against her boyfriend, burying her head against his shoulder. "I totally understand," she softly said. She held him tightly, almost as though she was trying to squeeze her love into him. "If you don't mind my asking," she quietly spoke, "what prompted the phone call?"

Gohan felt his cheeks turn bright, bright red again, and he could hear his girlfriend snicker at the change. "Well, you know how some people just need a little sense beaten into them in order to take the next step?"

"Yeah?"

Gohan cleared his throat. "Let's just say that Vegeta managed to get a few points through…"

It took Videl a second to realize what her boyfriend was saying, but as soon as she got it, she threw her head back and laughed. "_That's_ what you needed?" she giggled. "A punch to the head? Oh, sweetie, if only I'd known! I could have helped you with that!"

Playfully, he punched her in the shoulder. "But what could a little human do to a big old Saiyan like me?" he teased.

"Hey," Videl countered, still laughing as she moved to look her boyfriend in the eye, "I still know where your mom's frying pan is, and I am not afraid to use it!"

Gohan laughed and pulled her in to a bear hug. "You know," he confessed, "I think she'd like to know that you're putting it to good use."

After a few more moments of laughter, Videl once again cuddled against Gohan's chest. "Tell me about your mom."

Gohan blinked as he processed the thought. "What?"

"Your mom," Videl repeated. "Tell me about her."

The boy shifted slightly on the bed, laying down and pulling his girlfriend with him. "She was strong," he told her. "Stronger than any other woman I've met." He sighed and closed his eyes, letting his mind drift to the past. "She was very protective of us, but I think she was a little _extra_ protective with me."

Videl ran her fingers over Gohan's, playing with his knuckles gently. "Why do you think that is?"

"Probably because I was almost always in some kind of trouble," he softly answered. "I remember, back when I was four, Mom would always make me study a little bit every day. But she would always make me go outside and 'get some fresh air' every day, too. But that all changed when…when Raditz came to Earth."

Slowly, Gohan opened his eyes, and he stared at the fan on Videl's ceiling. "After that," he went on, his voice suddenly much quieter, "everything changed. Mom wanted to protect me from the bad guys, but Dad wanted me to help fight them. When I was little, I didn't understand what Mom wanted at all. I thought that if I had the power to save the world, it was my responsibility to save it.

"But since I've gotten older, and since I've helped raise Goten," he quietly continued, "I find myself wondering more and more why Dad seemed downright eager to send me in to a battle. I was just a little kid. I didn't know what I was doing. And even though I was strong, I was still wasn't the strongest, and I was still scared out of my mind. If I had been in Mom's position, I would have gotten furious, too."

He sighed again, pulling his love tightly against his body. "The more Dad pulled me into fights, the more Mom did to try to keep me out of them. All she wanted for me was a bright future, and she was willing to play the bad guy to try to get it for me."

Once again, Gohan closed his eyes. "When Goten was born, Dad wasn't there, and there weren't any major battle on the horizon. Goten got to be what I never did. Goten got to be a little kid."

Videl continued to play with his fingers, but she angled her face up and kissed Gohan under the jaw. "Do you ever get jealous of that?"

"Sometimes," Gohan confessed. "But Mom never did anything with Goten that she didn't do to me before I kept getting taken away. I'm more jealous of Goten's luck than anything else."

Videl nodded. "Why did you pick the word 'strong' to describe your mom?"

"Because she was," Gohan answered simply. "Time after time, things kept coming after us. We had problems with enemies, we had problems with money, we had problems with just about everything. But no matter what happened, even though she would scream and yell and break stuff for a while, Mom always got us through. When the enemies were defeated, Mom tended to our injuries and nursed us back to health. When we needed more food, she grew it herself. When we were running out of money, she found new ways to earn some. No matter what happened to us, Mom always fought for us. She was a fighter to the end, even if she didn't get a chance to take a punch."

Still playing with the fingers, Videl smiled. "That was nice," she responded. They lay quietly together for several minutes, simply enjoying being in each other's company. It was a simple gesture of love and peace, the first moments of happiness Gohan had felt since his mother's passing.

"Hey, Gohan?" Videl asked several minutes later.

"Yes?"

She shifted nervously in his arms. "How's Goten been?"

A sense of shame flooded the boy. "To be honest, Videl," he confessed, "I'm not sure. I've been trying my hardest to keep busy, and he's been latched on to Trunks. I've just been so stressed and so fried lately that I…I haven't talked to him since the funeral."

Videl tilted her head up again and kissed the underside of his jaw. "Then I think that maybe, after you get some rest here and you have a chance to relax, you should spend some time with your brother."

Wordlessly, Gohan held his girlfriend closer. He knew she was right.

It was time to talk with Goten.


	9. Chapter 9

Gohan sighed as he flew back to Capsule Corp. He had a good, long talk with Videl, and she had certainly cheered him up and helped him put a lot of things about his life into perspective. With that on top of his training session with Vegeta, he was actually feeling calmer, more collected, and overall happier than he had in a long, long time.

But there was one thing that he really needed to do that he was not looking forward to. Ever since the week after their mother's death, Gohan had generally avoided his younger brother. It was not as though he had avoided him on purpose so much as it was that when Gohan got truly stressed, he preferred the isolation of a library to just about anything else. Regardless of the reasons behind it, Gohan knew that he had let his brother down, and that he had to make it right.

As he landed on the rear lawn, Gohan focused his slightly dull senses. A month of isolation had left him more than slightly out of touch with his skills, and it took him a few seconds to find his kid brother. Not surprisingly, Trunks' energy level was directly next to Goten's.

Gohan walked through the door and headed straight for the boys. He swiftly approached the playroom door, and smiled as he heard the two boys laughing and playing on the other side of it. He knocked gently, alerting the two to his presence.

The laughter stopped immediately. While he could not make out exactly what was being said, Gohan could definitely tell that Trunks was giving Goten some form of command. A few seconds later, the door barely cracked open and Trunks peeked out.

"May we help you?" he sternly asked.

Gohan had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes at Trunks' tone. "Hey, I came to talk to Goten. Can you spare him for a minute?" He placed his hand on the door to gently guide it open, but Trunks had something else in mind.

In under a second, Trunks was outside the room entirely, the door firmly shut behind him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he growled.

"What?" Gohan asked, genuinely surprised by both the attitude and the language coming from the child.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded again. "You think you can just blow off Goten for a month and magically have him play with you whenever the hell you want him to? He needed you, Gohan, and you weren't there!"

Gohan looked down, more than slightly ashamed at the accurate accusation. "I know," he softly said. "That's why I want to talk to him. I want to tell him that I'm sorry about that, and I need to make sure that he's alright."

Warily, Trunks looked at the teenager. He did not seemed thrilled with the idea placed before him, but the child held a wisdom beyond his years when it came to familial relationships. "You can talk to him," he eventually relented, "but if you upset him, I will personally rip your head off your body and see how far I can punt it."

Gohan gulped and nodded. Normally a threat like that would have made him laugh a little, but Trunks seemed to be channeling his father at the moment, and Gohan did not even begin to doubt that the boy would follow through. "I promise," he softly said. "I'll be good to him."

"See that you are," Trunks responded, opening the door. As though by magic, the child's frown became a smile as he looked at his best friend. "Hey, Goten, Gohan wants to play with you!"

"Yea!" Goten cheered, bouncing to his feet and running for his brother. "What are we going to play?"

"Actually," Gohan said, kneeling down to look his brother in the eye, "I was thinking we could go back to _our_ place for a little bit."

Goten smiled and looked at his best friend. "Trunks, are you going to come with us?"

The young prince shook his head. "Naw," he casually responded. "I'm gonna stay here and chill out for a while."

Goten nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I thought you might. I'll see you when we get back!"

Trunks simply nodded and waved them off, clearly turning his back and going for his bedroom. It was at that moment that Gohan realized just how exhausted the little prince seemed to be. The teenager could not help but feel bad, knowing perfectly well that Trunks had been the one keeping Goten afloat during their difficult month. Apparently it had taxed the boy far more than Gohan would have suspected.

"Come on, Goten," he quickly said, hiding his stress as best he could, "I'll race you there!"

Without waiting around to give a verbal response, Goten ascended into his Super Saiyan form and flew through the halls and out the window. It took Gohan a moment to figure out that he had been left in the dust, giving Goten an impressive head start.

In no time at all, the two boys were landing in their family's front yard. "I win!" Goten cheered, jumping up and down in victory. "Woo-hoo!"

Gohan laughed, pushing the front door open and leading his brother in. On sheer autopilot, both boys took off their shoes and put them in their old spots. They walked into the living room and Gohan sat down on the couch, signaling for his brother to do the same. Goten bounced onto the couch and laughed. "What game are we going to play?"

"Actually," Gohan gently began, "I was thinking we could talk first."

"Oh," Goten responded, sounding a little surprised. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

Gohan took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. He was not looking forward to the conversation, but he knew he had to do it. "How are you?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

Goten blinked, definitely confused. "Yeah, Gohan. I'm fine."

"Are you…have you been upset lately?" the elder brother gently asked.

The younger of the pair began to get concerned. "Um, no, Gohan. I haven't been upset for a while."

"It's okay to be upset," Gohan gently coaxed.

"I know," Goten responded. "I was, but I talked to Trunks. I'm not anymore."

Gohan raised an eyebrow at how genuinely calm and content his younger brother appeared to be. "Are you really?"

"Yeah, I am," the child assured. "I miss Mommy. I miss her a lot. But I know she's okay, and I know she's having lots of fun, and I know that I'm gonna see her again someday. I just gotta wait."

Gohan was totally flustered by Goten's ease with the situation. Someway, somehow, the little boy seemed to be handling the shift in his family with a rare sense of ease. Something just seemed off about that. "And you're really alright with waiting, huh?" he asked.

"Well, it's not like I have much of a choice," the younger half blood answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Trunks told me that I can either wait until I have a lot of adventures and go join her the natural way, or we can wait for someone to blow up the planet."

The teenager smiled at the phrase his brother used, but his eyes almost instantly shifted from mirth to panic. "You guys aren't planning to…"

Goten giggled and shook his head. "No. Trunks told me I wasn't allowed to blow up the planet."

"Thank the gods," Gohan sighed, easing into the couch with relief.

The two sat in silence for a moment before Goten broke the silence. "Gohan?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why haven't you wanted to play with me since mommy died?" he gently asked.

Gohan swallowed what little saliva was in his mouth. They were at the part of the conversation that he dearly wished he could skip. "I…I don't really know, Goten."

"Yes you do," the child responded in a matter-of-fact tone.

Gohan blinked at the abrupt response. "What?"

Goten stuck out his lower lip and almost glared at his elder brother. "You have to know."

The teenager sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "Why do you think that I know?" he genuinely asked.

"You know everything," the kid answered, once again implying that it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

Gohan shook his head before looking his brother in the eye. "I know you look up to me, but I don't know everything, Goten."

The younger of the pair rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe not _everything_ everything, but you know just _about_ everything!"

"Goten, I don't know as much as you think I do…" Gohan began to explain.

But Goten was not going to listen to that statement. "Yes, you do!" he insisted.

"Goten…"

"I know that you do, Gohan, so don't tell me that you don't!" the child cried out. "You're the smartest person I know! You so smart, I think you're smarter than Auntie Bulma!"

"Goten…"

"So don't you tell me you don't know something, Gohan, because I know you know this!" he finished. He huffed slightly and crossed his arms, looking away from his brother.

Gohan looked down, unable to look his brother in the eye. Despite the somewhat faulty logic the younger of the pair was using, Gohan knew in his heart that he was fully aware of why he had been avoiding everyone for the past month. He just could not seem to bring himself to say it out loud.

Goten relaxed slightly and let his arms fall to his side. "So why don't you tell me what it was?" he sincerely asked. "Why won't you tell me why you didn't want to play?"

Searching for the right words, Gohan began his explanation slowly. "I like to play games with you, Goten, when I'm happy. For the last month…I've had a very hard time being happy."

Rolling his eyes, Goten threw up his arms. "Well, duh, Gohan, Mommy isn't here and you weren't playing!"

That certainly caught the elder brother off guard, a feeling that seemed to be catching him often in the past few days. "What?"

"You weren't happy because you missed Mommy and you didn't play!" he repeated. "Mommy can't play with us here to make us happy, but we can play with each other and we can make each other happy!"

Gohan bit down on his lower lip for a moment before trying to continue. "It's not quite that simple, Goten…"

"Only if you don't what it to be!" Goten accused.

"What?"

Goten pouted slightly, looking his brother in the eye. "Trunks and I think you _want_ to be sad."

"Why would I want to be sad?" Gohan asked.

Goten shrugged one shoulder and once again fell completely against the couch. "I don't know. It seems really dumb to want to be sad. But it really seems like you're doing that!"

The teenager tried to figure out just what his next move would be. Goten had managed to hit the nail right on the head with his accusation. He had been almost reveling in self-pity since their mother had died. There was no way to deny it. However, while the adults he knew would understand that his actions were a coping mechanism to deal with his grief, he could not think of a way to explain it to a seven year old. After all, just as Goten had said, from the outside it just seemed dumb. "Why would you say that?" he cautiously approached the subject.

"Because if you think about it, then other than missing Mommy, there's nothing to be sad about," the boy responded, once more using his matter-of-fact tone. "And we'll see her again, and then we get to see her forever. But you've just been a grumpy-butt, Gohan!"

While he knew it might be slightly irresponsible on his behalf, Gohan decided not to fully explain his actions. He had moved on from self-pity, and there was no reason to risk ruining a potential part of innocence by explaining his reasons in detail. It was behind them, and that was where it would remain. "So you really are okay?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Yes!" Goten insisted. "Why aren't you?"

"Maybe you were right," he answered with a shrug, keeping it casual. "Maybe I did want to be sad. But I promise to start being happier."

"You promise?" Goten asked, warily eyeing his brother.

Gohan nodded. "Yes."

"You pinky promise?" the younger brother responded, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Yes."

Goten leaned forward again. "You super-duper double-dare promise?"

Gohan smiled back at his brother, chuckling slightly as he answered, "Yes, Goten, I promise."

"You cross your heart, hope to die, thousand needles in your eye promise?"

The elder brother made his face, clearly disgusted with the image that popped into his head. "Ew! Goten! Where on Earth did you learn that?"

"From Trunks," Goten giggled.

Gohan rolled his eyes. "How am I not surprised…"

Goten giggled again. "He said you'd say that," he pointed out.

Huffing in a playful manner, Gohan responded, "Oh, he did, did he?"

"He said you'd say that, too," Goten added.

"Is there anything he said I wouldn't say?" the elder of the pair asked, already fairly certain that he knew the answer.

Goten shook his head. "Not really," he sincerely answered. "Oh, and he said you'd say that."

Gohan laughed. As he slowly regained his composure, he wiped a tear from his eye. "You and Trunks have spent a lot of time together this month, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah," Goten answered. "He still plays with me, but I think he might need a break."

The elder demi quirked an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?" he wondered aloud. When he had encountered the young prince in the hallway, the boy had seemed more than eager to keep Goten under a protective wing.

Goten squirmed a little before he offered a shrug. "He's starting to act kinda like his dad."

Gohan grimaced slightly. "Ooh, that bad, huh?"

"Huh?" Goten responded. "Oh. It's not that bad. He's just kinda grumpy, like Uncle Vegeta is when he tells us to go away and we don't because Aunty Bulma told us to go play with him."

That brought out a laugh. Bulma had a history of getting even with her husband in one of three ways that everyone knew of: deprivation of sex, blocked access to the gravity room, and instructing the twins of terror to harass him. "Well, tell you what," he began, his laugh slowing down to a chuckle, "since I'm not going to be a…what did you call me? A grumpy-butt?"

"Yup!"

Gohan chuckled again. "Well, since I'm not going to be a grumpy-butt anymore, I'll be playing with you a lot more, so you can give Trunks a break and he won't end up turning in to Vegeta."

Goten jumped up and cheered. "Yea!"

The two brothers sat quietly with one another before Goten once again broke the silence. "Hey, Gohan?"

"Yeah?"

The seven year old boy leaned up against his older brother. "Tell me a story."

Gohan nodded and pulled his brother in. "Okay," he answered. "What kind of story?"

"One about Mommy," the little boy responded.

The teenager nodded. "You want a real story or a make believe story?"

"Both!"

Gohan chuckled. "Okay, let's see here. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young princess who lived in a castle. She had riches and jewels and all kinds of pretty things, but they did not make her happy."

Goten frowned. "Because she wanted more of them?"

The elder brother shook his head. "No, she just didn't really care about things like that all that much."

"Oh, you mean girly girl stuff?" the little boy asked.

"Uh huh. She liked things like fighting and such. She liked the girly stuff, but they didn't make her as happy as other things did," Gohan clarified. "Anyway, she liked to go on adventures and find interesting creatures and people. But one day, when she came home from her adventure, her house was on fire."

"On fire?" Goten asked.

Gohan nodded. "A big one. A fire so big that no one could put it out."

Goten looked upset by that. "But wasn't her stuff in there?"

"Uh huh," the teenager confirmed.

Eyes grew wide on the younger of the pair. "So all of her stuff was on fire?"

Again, Gohan nodded. "All of it."

"Wow," Goten whispered. "How long did the fire burn?"

"Years," Gohan responded.

Goten gasped. "Years?"

The elder boy nodded. "A lot of them. There was just no way to get the fire out."

The lower lip of the little boy began to tremble. "That's terrible!"

"It was," Gohan agreed. "But one day, the princess met a boy."

That turned the mood around. "Like me?" he eagerly asked.

"A lot like you," Gohan assured. "He was a nice boy, and a strong boy. He really wanted to help the princess and was willing to do anything he could to help her."

"So he put the fire out?" Goten asked, assuming he knew where the story was going.

Gohan raised his eyebrows. "Um, no."

"WHAT?" the seven year old balked.

The teenager actually gave a half smile at his brother's passionate response. "The fire was too big for even him to put out. They needed magic."

The little boy's eyes lit up at the thought. "Magic is good!"

"Glad you approve," Gohan chuckled. "So the boy took the princess on his magical flying cloud, and they searched the world for a magical fan that could blow out the fire and save the princess' home. Eventually, they found this wise old man who possessed the magical fan."

"Did he give it to them?" Goten eagerly asked.

"Well, he would have," Gohan explained, "but it had been destroyed."

Goten gasped. "Oh no!"

The elder brother nodded. "The princess thought that all hope was lost, but the wise old man told her not to worry. He might not have the magic fan, but he had his own magic powers and could help put out the fire."

Hope filled the seven year old's eyes. "He could?"

"Mm-hm," Gohan agreed. "So the boy and the princess took the wise old man back to the castle, and asked him to put out the fire. The old man chanted a magical incantation, and he summoned his magic powers and blew the entire fire out!"

Goten pumped his fist in the air as he cheered. "Yea! Then what happened?"

Gohan chuckled at his brother's enthusiasm. "The castle was burned, but it was overall okay. The princess thanked the wise man for saving her home, and she thanked the boy for helping her find the wise old man."

"Did they fall in love?" the boy eagerly asked.

"Yup. The princess fell in love with the boy, and after a lot of adventures, they got married," Gohan answered

"And they lived happily ever after?"

"Of course!" the teenager assured.

Goten snuggled again into his brother's side. "Hey, Gohan?"

"Yeah?"

The seven year old looked up at his brother's face. "Was Mommy really a princess?"

"Yes, she was, Goten," Gohan responded.

"Did mommy really have a castle that caught on fire?" he asked.

Gohan nodded. "She did."

The younger boy nodded along. "And is the boy daddy?"

"Yup."

"And is the wise old man Master Roshi?" Goten reasoned out.

"Uh-huh."

Goten paused for a moment before asking his next question. "Did Master Roshi really destroy a magic fan?"

"Yeah, Krillen says that he heard that Master Roshi spilled soup on it and threw it out," Gohan responded.

Goten's eyes bugged out slightly as he kept thinking about the story. "Does he really have magic powers and did he use them to save a castle?" he asked with wonder.

Gohan blushed slightly. "Um, no. He tried to put the fire out with a Kamehameha blast."

The younger brother looked extremely confused. "Um, wouldn't that blow the castle up?"

Gohan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's pretty much what it did…"

"I guess that's why we don't live in a castle, huh?" Goten giggled.

The teenager chuckled. "That would be the reason, yes."

"Hey, Gohan?"

"Yeah?"

Goten looked slightly troubled. "How could Mommy and Daddy live happily ever after if one of em' is always, you know, playing with King Kai?"

For a moment, the two sat in a deafening silence as Gohan thought about an answer. "Well," he slowly began, "they had a lot of very happy years together. They haven't been able to see each other a lot in the last few years, but in the end, they're going to be together forever and ever. That's what happily ever after means sometimes. It just takes some time to get there."

Goten kept thinking. "Hey, Gohan?"

"Yeah?"

"Does Daddy know that Mommy isn't here anymore?" the young boy very softly asked.

Gohan felt his blood run cold. He honestly did not have an answer, save what little he gave his brother. "I don't know"

Goten snuggled a little closer into his big brother. "Do you think he will be sad when he finds out?"

The elder brother hugged Goten tight and closed his eyes. "I know he will."


	10. Chapter 10

Gohan looked at himself in the mirror and frowned. Something just did not seem to be right with his reflection. He turned slightly to the right, then to the left, and eventually made a full circle, but nothing seemed to help.

"What seems to be the problem?" a voice called out from behind him.

The teenager jumped and gasped. "Geez, Bulma, don't do that to me!"

The blue haired heiress just waved him off. "Oh, please, like I could actually scare you."

"My heart rate begs to differ!"

Bulma laughed as she approached the boy. "So, what seems to be the problem?" she repeated.

Gohan's frown returned. "Oh, yeah..." He turned back toward the full length mirror and shook his head. "It doesn't look right."

"How?" Bulma genuinely asked, circling the boy. "Everything seems okay to me. In fact, I think you look quite handsome."

The half blood whipped around. "I look like a magician!" he whined.

Bulma blinked in confusion. "No, you don't!" she insisted. "Gohan, you look fantastic! Where in the world did you get the idea that you look like a..." Her bright blue eyes narrowed dangerously, and Bulma shot a furious glare at the door. "TRUNKS!"

"I didn't do it!" the voice called from down the hall.

As the heiress geared up to hunt down her son, Gohan grabbed her shoulder. "Whoah, whoah, easy there!" he counseled. "Bulma, it wasn't Trunks."

Bulma huffed, her glare still facing the open doorway. "Then it was Vegeta, wasn't it?" she demanded.

Gohan laughed. "Has he even seen a magician before?"

The anger slowly began to ebb from her, and was replaced by confusion. "Was it Goten?" she questioned.

"No," Gohan insisted. "It also wasn't Krillin or Yamcha or any of the guys, so you might as well stop asking."

"Well damn it, Gohan, who put this ridiculous idea into your head?" she demanded.

A gentle blush spread across the boy's cheeks. "I did," he sheepishly answered. "I'm the one who thinks I look like a magician." With embarrassment clear on his features, he gazed again upon his reflection. "I mean, even I know that this looks ridiculous!"

Bulma smacked the teenager on the shoulder. "It's a classic look," she pointed out.

"It's a bow tie and cummerbund in bright red," Gohan countered. "Even I know I look like a dork."

Shaking her head, the heiress brushed out the sleeves of Gohan's jacket. "Well, you should have said something three days ago when I ordered it," she countered. "It's too late to change it now."

"It didn't get here until this afternoon," the teen fought back. "I couldn't have changed it anyway."

Bulma opened her mouth to retaliate again, but was caught off guard by something flying past her head. Gohan reached out and easily caught the dark blue cloth that was sailing for his face. He flipped it over in his hand, surprised to find that it was a vest and long tie. "What's this?" he asked.

"My mandatory act of civility for the month," Vegeta answered from the doorway. "Consider it the only act of mercy you will ever get from me."

A small smile began to form on the teenager's face as he realized that the garments were in his size. "Thank you!" he enthusiastically replied.

"Whatever," the prince muttered, walking away.

His shadow was still within eyesight by the time Gohan had changed. "Much better!" he chuckled. "Thanks, guys!"

Bulma growled. "I swear, all of you men are teaming up against me!"

"No we're not!" Gohan insisted, shrugging in to his jacket. "I promise, I didn't know he got that for me!"

The scientist smacked the boy between the shoulders. "It's a joke, you hypersensitive loon!" she laughed. "Look, you're going to be late if you don't head out now. Even flying, you're going to be cutting it close."

Gohan glanced down at his watch and jumped. "Oh, man, you're right!" He gave the woman a quick kiss on the temple before opening his bedroom window. "Thank you!" he called out, flying off into the night.

Bulma shook her head as she descended the staircase and entered the living room. She took a seat on the couch, next to her husband and rubbed the gentle swell that was forming at her belly. "That was nice of you," she gently said.

"If you get mushy on me, I'm taking it back," the prince threatened.

The heiress smacked her husband on the shoulder before resting her head on it. "Well, it was still nice."

Vegeta crossed his arms and scowled. "Someone had to do it. Kid looked like he was about to pull a damn rabbit out of his hat."

/

Gohan knocked gently on the window, mindful not to crack it again. He was grinning from ear to ear as his date approached the window. Gohan waved as Videl opened her window. "Wow," he loudly exhaled, "you look...fantastic!"

The petite fighter blushed and coyly looked up at her boyfriend. "Do you really think so?"

The taller teenager looked his beautiful date up and down. Her dress was a slightly dark blue, and the bodice hugged her fit form snuggly. The skirt flared gently at her hips, coming to a gentle, gold trimmed stop just above her ankles. The top was fairly simple, a standard tank silhouette, but the subtle gold stitching that lined her collar brought out her natural glow.

Gohan smiled. "You look wonderful," he softly told her.

"Aw, you're sweet," she graciously responded. It was rare that Videl got dressed up, but that did not mean that she did not enjoy the flattery that came her way. "Well, shall we?"

With gentle care, Gohan took her into his arms. "And where do you wish to go this evening, m'lady?" he played.

Videl pretended to think. "Well, I really want to go for a spar in the dirt and the mud," she teased, "but I guess I'll settle on going to our senior prom. Just this once though!"

/

Goten hopped down the staircase and looked around. "Has anyone seen Gohan?"

Bulma looked over the back of the couch at her youngest charge. "Oh, honey, we talked about this. Gohan's at the prom tonight."

The little boy pouted. "Oh, yeah. Well, is he going to get home soon?"

Closing her eyes to keep herself calm, Bulma sighed. "Goten, I told you this morning that your brother is going to be gone until very late tonight."

"If not tomorrow morning," Vegeta muttered, earning yet another smack on the shoulder from his wife.

Goten pouted slightly. "But I wanted to play with Gohan," he whined. "I wanted to show him a cool new trick I learned!"

"I know you do, sweetie," Bulma sympathetically responded, giving him a soft smile. "But Gohan should be here for just about the whole day tomorrow, and I just know that if you tell him that you have something to show him, he'll be thrilled to see your new trick."

With a renewed sense of home, Goten beamed and bounded his way back up the staircase. Behind him, Vegeta shook his head.

"You shouldn't have told him that," he scolded.

Bulma whipped her head in his direction, definitely caught off guard. "Why?"

The Saiyan prince looked over at his wife, a serious look on his face. "The older kid is going to be heading out on his own in three months," he pointed out. "When that happens, the little idiot is not going to be able to access him on a whim."

"So?" Bulma asked, still not getting the point.

"So," Vegeta explained, obviously getting frustrated, "counseling Goten to seek his brother out at earliest convenience is going to lead to a lot of hell when Gohan moves out."

The heiress sighed. "I guess you have a point," she relented, "but I just couldn't do that to him right now. Those two have just started to adjust, and I want to protect them as long as I can." Bulma sighed and shook her head before resting it comfortably on her husband's shoulder, closing her eyes gently. "I can't believe that Gohan is already going to his senior prom. I remember mine like it was just yesterday." A wicked smirk formed on her lips, but her eyes remained shut. "That was a good, good night." She snuggled deeper against Vegeta's shoulder and let out a deep breath. "Oh, and you did have that talk with Gohan, right?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Yes, you unbearable woman."

"And you talked about how the 'post prom moment' should be handled with great responsibility, right?" she asked.

The room fell silent. Bulma cracked an eye open and glance at her husband's face. "You told him that it was a serious, life altering decision, didn't you?"

Vegeta kept his eyes on the wall directly in front of him, remaining perfectly silent.

"Vegeta?" Bulma questioned, opening both eyes fully. "What did you tell Gohan about sex?"

The prince opted to direct his gaze up toward the ceiling.

The heiress sat up completely. "Vegeta?"

Never had that ceiling fan seemed so interesting…

/

Gohan sighed, a content smile on his face. It was nearing the end of the evening, and everyone was fairly relaxed. The tall teenager had long abandoned his jacket and tie and opened up his vest. A slow song played over the speakers, and Gohan reveled in the sensation of Videl pressed up against him, her head gently resting on the front of his shoulder.

It felt like an absolutely perfect moment. The strain of the past few months had been almost unbearable, but he was finally starting to feel as though his life was back under control. Dancing there, with the girl he loved, knowing that she loved him back, it was all just what he needed.

As the song began to come to a close, Gohan wrapped his arms all the way around his girlfriend and pulled her in for a deep hug. "I love you," he whispered in her ear.

A faint trace of scarlet spread gently over Videl's cheeks. "I love you, too," she gently responded. She snuggled gently against him and positively glowed. She, too, had been desperately needing an evening like this. Trying to be supportive of her boyfriend's needs while giving him the distance he craved had put more emotional stress on her than she would have imagined, but it was all well worth it. She really did love him, and he was worth the fight.

A new song, fast and upbeat, began to blast through the speakers. Gohan cringed a little, his sensitive hearing not at all enjoying the blasting volume. With a gentle tug, he guided Videl off of the dance floor. They traveled up a side staircase and stepped out onto an empty balcony, enjoying the cool, fresh air of the evening.

"Whew!" Videl sighed, wiping a thin layer of sweat from her brow. "It's hotter than hell in there!"

"It's not surprising," Gohan responded in a matter of fact tone. "When you factor in the average amount of heat put off by an active human body, the number of people in the room, the amount of ventilation, and the dimensions of the room itself, it comes out to roughly…"

"Gohan," Videl gently interrupted, "I was really just stating the obvious for the sake of stating the obvious. I don't need to know the math behind why slow dancing was making me sweat."

The eighteen year old half blood blushed. "Sorry," he apologized.

Videl giggled and snuggled back up against him. "Don't worry about it," she assured. "Besides, it's cute when you do that."

Swallowing what little saliva was in his mouth, Gohan nodded. "Hey, Videl?"

"Yeah?" the girl asked, looking up at her love.

"There…there's something I wanted to ask you," the teenager stammered.

Confused, Videl opted to simply nod.

Gohan tried to swallow again, but he could not seem to find enough spit in his mouth to do so. "Well," he began explaining, "we've been together for a while now, and…and I can't even begin to imagine living life without you in it."

Videl blushed and took Gohan's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"As such," the boy went on, "I think that we should…that we're ready to…" Gohan pulled at his collar, trying to fight the choking sensation he was increasingly aware of. "Man," he confessed, "I don't think I've ever had this much trouble talking…"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Videl teased. "In fact, you've stammered at every major moment since I met you. Introducing yourself, explaining your history, asking me out for our first date…you almost passed out before we kissed for the first time." She guided him over to the stone bench on the terrace and sat down. "Now, whatever it is you want to ask me," she gently told him, rubbing his hands reassuringly, "now is the time to ask."

Gohan smiled down at her and squeezed her hands back. She truly was wonderful to him. Through all the hell that he had been through, she had been the only one to give him exactly what he wanted. She always stood by his side, no matter what. She was his other half in all that he did, and he love her so, so much.

A sense of calmness washed over him, and a warm sensation of happiness overcame him as he finally asked her.


	11. Chapter 11

The sun came up over the hills just outside the city limits, slowly spreading bright light between the tall buildings. A few cars were on the roads, and there were a handful of runners and bicycle riders moving around, but it was otherwise still and silent. A lonely bird flew past the boy's window, and he sadly watched as it rested in the nest in the rafters of his balcony.

Goten sighed miserably as he watched the bird settle down, his cheek shifting in his hand. When he had gone to bed the night before, he was sure that his big brother would be back by the time he woke up. Auntie Bulma had told him that Gohan was going to be out late, but that meant that Gohan would have come home during the night.

Like his father before him, Goten was a morning person. He almost always awoke before the first full beams of sunlight hit his bedroom window, and that morning was no different. The little boy, remembering what he had been told the night before, had bounced out of bed with enthusiasm, rushing for Gohan's room. He had not forgotten his eagerness to teach Gohan about his new _.

But when he had burst through his brother's door, he had found an empty bed. It did not even look like it had been slept in at all. Goten had been confused at first, but he had gotten over it quickly, assuming that it meant that Gohan had gotten up first. It did not happen often, but every once in a while Goten had been the second one up.

The little boy had honed his senses, trying to figure out which room his brother was in. But he was disappointed to realize that Gohan was nowhere in the compound. Stretching out his senses further, Goten discovered that his brother was still in the city, but he was out with his friends.

Goten's mood had quickly turned blue. He wanted to ask someone why Gohan had been gone all night, something he could never remember his brother ever doing before, but the only other person awake at that hour was training in the gravity room and had a very strict policy against being interrupted during training hours.

So there he stood, leaning against the rail of his balcony, resting his cheeks in his hands as he watched the world around him. It was really quiet that morning, a lot like the mornings he used to have before his mommy had gone to heaven. It was not exactly the same, though. There was only one bird near his window, not a whole family of them. There was not a beautiful forest just outside, and the perfectly manicured lawns of Capsule Corp did not sparkle with morning dew as spectacularly as the wild grasses had outside of his old home.

Goten could not identify his feelings as the true form of loneliness that it was. Never before in his short life had he been completely separated from his normal life. His mother was gone, and it would be a long time before he would get to see her again. His father, who he had barely known, was doing something somewhere that no one knew anything about. His older brother was somewhere in the city with people that Goten did not know.

Above all of that, it had finally started to sink in that he was never 'going home' again. The months that he had spent at Capsule Corp had felt like a long vacation for quite a while, but it had been slowly seeping in to his mind that the room he had called his own all his life was no longer his room. The kitchen table his mother had served him her delicious food at was not where he was eating his breakfasts. The stream behind the house no longer offered his feet a cooling sensation at the end of a hot day.

He wanted to go home.

Shifting his gaze toward the bird's nest above his balcony, Goten shifted his body to sit on top of the railing. He rested his back against the building and rested his clasped hands gently in his pajama clad lap. As he watched, the bird began moving around the sticks and leaves and random scraps it had gathered, adding to its nest. The bird used its beak and its feet to build a firmer home, solidifying what little it had started with.

Goten watched, fascinated, as the bird kept hard at work. The bird flew away a handful of times, returning with more little treasures. Little buttons, lines of yarn, grasses and sticks, anything the little bird could get its beak on was brought back for construction.

The little boy was completely oblivious to how much time had passed until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Goten shrieked, scared out of his mind by the surprise, and barely remembered how to fly as he fell off his perch. "Geez, Trunks, don't do that!"

"Hey, don't blame me!" the little prince defended. "I called your name, like, five times. It's not like a snuck up on you or anything!"

Goten pouted and crossed his arms, floating down to the balcony floor. "Well, say it louder next time!"

Trunks rolled his eyes, leaning lazily against the railing. "Whatever," he responded. "What're you doing out here?"

The younger boy remembered the calm moment before his best friend had disrupted him. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I was watching the birdie building his nest."

Trunks leaned forward and tilted his chin up, catching a good look at what his friend had talked about. "Huh, I never saw that before."

"Well, I think he just started it, like, this morning or something," Goten admitted. "He's been building since I got out here."

The young prince nodded and hopped up onto the railing. He walked slowly along the narrow path, cautiously approaching the nest. "Wow," he muttered, carefully keeping his voice quiet, "I didn't know that birds could build this well."

"I've seen bird nests before," Goten added, watching from down low, "but I never watched it being built, and I never saw one in the city before."

"We don't get a lot of wild birds here," Trunks responded, still studying the nest. "Most of the ones flying around here are Grandma's pets.

Goten nodded along. "That's what I thought," he replied. "There aren't a lot of animals around here that aren't pets."

"Or bugs," Trunks supplied. "There are some stores around here with a lot of bugs in them. But you're right, most of the animals are pets."

Letting out a sigh, Goten leaned against his balcony door and looked at his sock clad feet. "I miss the animals," he softly admitted.

Trunks frowned as he looked down at his friend. He had thought a lot about how hard it probably was for his friend to not have his mom around anymore, but he had honestly not thought at all about how hard it was to go from living in the country to the middle of a city. Jumping off of the railing, he clapped a hand down on his best friend's shoulder.

"Tell you what," he pitched. "How about after breakfast, you and me fly to the country and hang out at your place?"

Goten's eyes sparkled with hope. "Really?"

"Sure, why not?" the little prince answered. "We've got nothing we have to do today. It'll be great!"

Letting out a joyful whoop, Goten jumped into a hug with his companion. "Oh, Trunks, that'll be fun!"

The elder boy laughed before shoving Goten off. "Yeah, but we can't go until we eat breakfast, so let's go get some food." He paused for a moment, his blue eyes narrowing as something sparked his senses. "Hey, your brother's coming back."

Goten's smile faded slightly as he remembered that Gohan had stayed out all night. However, it returned with vigor as he realized that Gohan coming back meant that all three of them could go to the house together. "Let's go say hi!" he giddily cried, pulling an off balance Trunks behind him.

The boys arrived in the kitchen just as Gohan snuck in. "Hey Gohan!" Goten laughed, practically tackling his brother. "Good morning!"

Gohan grunted as the half-Saiyan projectile collided with his chest. "Hey, Goten," he wheezed. Catching his breath, he smiled at the other child. "Mornin', Trunks."

"Where the hell have you been?" Trunks demanded, his arms crossed as he glared at the older boy.

"That's precisely what I was going to ask."

All three boys turned around to find a very grumpy Bulma standing in the kitchen doorway. She had obviously just gotten out of bed. Her hair was sticking out in every given direction, her eyes were not quite as open as they normally were after her morning coffee, and there was not one ounce of makeup on her face.

Gohan's face flushed red. He knew he was in trouble, but he had really been hoping that he would have gotten more time before running in to the Briefs matriarch. Not only was he certain that she was going to be the strictest one, but with her recent bout with her mood swings, there was no way to prepare.

Shifting so he could put Goten back on the ground, Gohan offered a respectful little bow to his guardian. "Good morning, Bulma," he politely offered. "How are you doing today?"

"Not well, Gohan," she sneered. "See, between morning sickness, back pain, and the fact that I am no longer a thirty-six, twenty-four, thirty-six, I got to stay up half the night wondering where the hell a theoretically responsible eighteen year old boy had gone off to after his senior prom!"

Gohan hung his head. "I'm sorry I didn't call," he genuinely apologized. "By the time I realized how late it was, I was..."

"Save it," she bit out. "Do you have any idea at all how hard it is to wait up at night, worrying about whether or not your little boy is okay?"

Gohan did a double take. For a brief moment, it really did seem as though it was his mother giving him the lecture instead of Bulma. "I really am sorry," he quietly responded.

Bulma opened her mouth to start scolding again, but the appearance of a full coffee cup in front of her diverted her attention. She snatched at the mug before taking a sip of the scalding fluid. "Enabler," she accused of her husband, taking another sip.

Vegeta just rolled his eyes. He had sensed when the woman had gotten out of bed, and he had gotten in the habit of making sure there was a hot cup of decaf ready. While Bulma interpreted it as a gesture of kindness, Vegeta did it because the hot brew gave the woman enough of a placebo effect in lieu of caffeine to keep the woman in a tolerable mood.

"Thank you," she grumbled, taking a slightly more relaxed sip. "You know that I am well aware of the fact that there is no caffeine in this, right?"

The Saiyan prince rolled his eyes. "And yet, you still guzzle it down as though it came from the spring of eternal life." Out of the corner of his eye, he had been carefully watching as Gohan had tried to make his way subtly for the door. "Stop right there, dumbass," he commanded.

Gohan froze and stood up straight. "I, uh, was hoping to take a shower…"

"Oh, I'll bet!" the irate heiress snapped. "How could you, Gohan? I thought you had more sense than that! Even if numbnuts here gave you some terrible advice…"

"Hey!" Vegeta shot back. "Do not dare insult me in such a manner!"

"But," Bulma went on, ignoring her husband, "doing what you did is just unacceptable!"

Gohan's eyes were enormous. "But…but how did know?" he asked in a shocked manner.

Bulma's eyes shone to an even brighter shade of blue. "Gohan Son, how dumb do you think I am if I'm going to miss something like a teenager being out all night after the prom? It does not take a genius level IQ or any of my advanced degrees to know about it!"

The teenager flushed bright red. "Bulma, I know I'm young, but I promise you that I knew what I was doing."

With a tired sigh, Bulma pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and gently took a seat. "Gohan," she softly explained, gently rubbing the swell of her stomach, "I know that you are a very bright young man, and I know that you have been going through a lot lately, but I think you may have gone too far too fast."

Gohan lowered his eyes and shook his head. "I understand that you're trying to look out for me," he responded, "and I appreciate that, I really do. But I've been thinking about this since before…everything…and I can assure you that I made the right decision."

"Gohan," Bulma returned, "I know that you are a very mature young man, and I don't doubt that you've put thought into this, but…oh, I don't even know how to say this."

Taking a seat next to his godmother, Gohan took her hand. "You want to tell me that I did it in response to the way my parents were," he explained. "And I knew you were going to. That's why I love you so much. But proposing to Videl was the smartest decision I have ever made in my life."

Bulma suddenly sat up a little straighter. "You did what?" she asked.

From the doorway, Vegeta groaned. "You idiot!" he shouted. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

With an utterly innocent look on his face, Gohan looked up at the prince. "What?" he asked.

"Unbelievable," the prince grumbled, walking away in frustration.

Still slightly stunned, Bulma blinked with confusion. "You proposed to Videl?" she very slowly asked, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"Well, yeah," Gohan answered, suddenly as confused as his godmother. "Why, what did you think I did?"

Bulma's head dropped, and she had to fight to keep from laughing out loud in the flustered boy's face. "You know what?" she chuckled, finally looking back up at the teenager. "It's nothing. Look, I still think you're too young to get married, but I can save that conversation for later. Now be a good boy and help me get up so I can go take a shower and get ready for my day."

With a jovial nature, the teenager did exactly what was asked of him and helped her up. As he watched the pregnant heiress leave, Trunks slid his way back into the kitchen in a second attempt to get breakfast. The little boy hopped onto the counter and opened the cabinet to pull out a bowl. "I heard what you and Mom," he casually said.

"Oh, really?" Gohan responded in an equally lazes-faire tone.

"Mm-hm," the child responded, hopping down. Just barely shifting his eyes to the older boy, he playfully accused, "You knew exactly what she was talking about, didn't you?"

An almost wicked smirk crossed the teenager's face as he began to leave the room, his jacket tossed over his shoulder casually as he responded, "Every single word."


	12. Chapter 12

Goten squirmed in Bulma's arms. "Why do I have to wear this?"

With a grunt, Bulma tried to wrestle the little boy into a suit jacket. "Because," she explained, barely able to get her words out, "this is a very important occasion, and you have to wear your very special clothes to a very special occasion."

The small boy flipped around in her arms, his lower lip sticking out in a dramatic pout. "But why are very special clothes never comfy?"

"Because life's tough," Trunks assisted, entering the room. "Now stop being a baby and put the jacket on."

Shrugging, the little boy slid on the offending garment. "I'm not a baby," he argued, situating it over his shoulders.

"You're right," Trunks agreed, "you're not, so stop making my mom help you get dressed and finish it yourself."

Goten stuck his tongue out at his best friend, but did as he was told. Bulma stood up and looked down at her son, amazed yet again to his odd maturity level. Since the day Gohan and Goten had moved in with them, Trunks had been keeping Goten appeased and functional. Bulma had her hands full keeping Gohan on track at first, and every once in a while she thought about how much responsibility her young son took for keeping his best friend well. As ever, Trunks knew exactly how to play Goten. He could get his younger friend to do anything at all. And, much to Bulma's relief, that power had only been used for good over the past few months.

"Well," she casually said, brushing off her knees, "if you two have everything under control here, I'm going to go get ready and then we can go."

"You hear that, Goten?" Trunks responded in a teasing tone. "We'll be leaving in only three or four hours!"

Goten's eyes bugged out. "I don't want to wait that long!"

Trunks rolled his eyes and gave his best friend a playful punch in the shoulder. "It's a joke, genius," he pointed out. "Now come on, let's finish up so we can go watch cartoons for a while."

Bulma smiled as she walked out of the room, leaving the boys to their own devices. It was a big day, after all, and she had to be ready for it. As much as she hated giving credence to Trunks' jokes, it really would take her a while to get ready. Getting Goten ready had not been a part of her plan.

As she entered her bedroom, Bulma tossed a smile toward her husband. "I take it he got there okay?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes as he pulled off his shirt. "No, he got halfway there when an intergalactic threat decided to make itself known only at his location. The fight to the death did not end in the boy's favor."

The heiress punched her husband in the shoulder, but she continued to smile at him. "Gee, and to think that I actually stopped to wonder where our son got that remarkably sarcastic streak."

"That is because you are an idiot."

Bulma launched her hands into the air in a melodramatic gesture of her mock frustration. "Honestly, you are impossible!"

"And therein lies the challenge," he teased back. "Now shut up and start getting ready."

"You're a jerk!" she called out, entering their master bathroom.

"Duly noted."

/

Eighteen, Marron, and Krillen watched as the Briefs household approached them in the parking lot. "Hey guys!" Krillen greeted, giving an enthusiastic wave. "How've you been?"

"Goten snores like a wildebeest being strangled," Trunks answered, leading the pack, "but other than that, things are pretty good."

Goten smacked his friend in the shoulder. "No I don't! I don't sound like that!" he countered. He turned and faced Krillen head on before insisting, "I sound like a truck downshifting on the freeway!"

The group enjoyed a good laugh with the boy before Bulma began to guide them towards their seats. "Come on, guys," she giggled, still amused by Goten's statement, "the ceremony is going to start soon."

The group wove their way through the crowd, maneuvering to their assigned seats. "Man, can you believe that we're here already?" Krillen quietly said to Bulma. "It seems like it was yesterday that Goku popped up with him at Roshi's."

"I know," the heiress softly agreed. "It's hard to believe that he's all grown up already."

Trunks rolled his eyes as he sat down. "Yeah, beautiful, we all grow up so fast. So how long is this going to take?"

"Trunks!" Bulma hissed. "Show more respect than that!"

With a bored look on his faced, the young heir pulled a capsule out of his pocket. He tossed it open, reached down, and pulled out a pendent simply stating the word 'FUN'. With his head tilted down into one hand, he lazily waved his small flag in the other.

At his side, Goten giggled. "Did you bring one for me?" he whispered.

"Oh, no he didn't!" Bulma snapped, shooting to her feet. "Give me that!"

Trunks held a frown on his face, but he did as he was told. He did not want to tick his mother off too badly. Not straight out of the gate, at least.

"Do you think we'll be able to see Gohan from here?" Goten asked, not nearly as quietly as he thought he was.

Trunks nodded. "Easily. We got great seats."

"Okay." The younger boy paused for a moment before asking, "When are they gonna start?"

The words had barely left the child's mouth when the music began to play and the crowd grew silent. Slowly, a long line of graduating high school students began to wind their way into the auditorium. They stood before their families and friends, their blue caps and gowns flawless. It took quite a while for all the graduates to enter the room, all six hundred teenagers maintaining the slow pace forced upon them by their teachers.

Goten began to fidget just a couple minutes into the processional. "When is Gohan gonna come out?" he loudly whispered to anyone who would listen.

Trunks rolled his eyes. "Your last name starts with an S," the older of the pair pointed out. "He's going to be near the back."

"Hey, Trunks?"

"What?"

"They're all wearing the same thing. How am I going to know which one is my brother?"

The young prince frowned slightly. "I'm sure we'll be able to see him. I wouldn't worry about it if I was you."

"Okay."

On Trunks' other side, Marron nudged his foot. "It's going to be a long time, isn't it?" she softly asked.

The heir nodded, a grim look on his face. "Yeah, probably."

"You got anything to make it go faster?"

A slightly wicked smirk crossed Trunks' face. It was not often that Marron proposed any form of mischief, but when she did, he always enjoyed the result. "We can't do too much during the ceremony," he whispered, trying to make sure only the little girl heard him, "but I did bring entertainment." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small media player and handed each of his friends and earpiece. "I put some good stuff on here..."

"No, you didn't," his father interrupted calmly taking the device from the boy.

Trunks opened his mouth to protest, but one solid glare from his father was all it took to shut him up. After all, five minutes of cartoons was not worth dying for. Marron gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder. "We'll do something later," she whispered.

After several rounds of Pomp and Circumstance, Goten sat up eagerly in his seat. "Look, look, look!" he gushed, pointing to the crowd. "It's Gohan!"

Gohan entered the auditorium, trying hard just to focus on getting to his seat. Thanks to a comment made by Trunks that morning, he was extremely concerned about tripping on his graduation robe and face-planting in front of his entire school. The entire concept of a graduation ceremony had his stress level through the roof. If given an option, the teenager would gladly have let them mail his diploma to him at home and skipped the entire ordeal.

At long last, the music ended. The principal stood on the platform and began to speak. Many of the students, as well as their parents and relatives, seemed to space out during the speech, and unfortunately, it went on for quite a while.

As the man droned on and on, Gohan glanced around, fining his friends and family. Each student was only allotted so many seats for relatives, and Gohan had barely been able to fit the people he had. With only eight seats open per student, many were unable to bring everyone they wanted to. Gohan had been lucky. In the stands sat Eighteen, Krillen, and Marron, beside Trunks, Goten, Vegeta, and Bulma.

A sad sigh crossed the teenager's face as he held the eighth ticket in his hand, concealed under his sleeve. The day belonged to his mother as much as it did to him, and he was sad that she could not watch him graduate. She had been the driving force of his education, pushing him to make sure he had the skills he would need to get by as an adult in a human society. She had sacrificed so much to get him where he was.

A few seats down, Videl glanced at her boyfriend. They had talked a lot about his mother in the past few days, and she knew that Chi-Chi had cared a lot about making sure her son could graduate. It had to be hard for the boy. They had tried to get his grandfather there, but the Ox King had been sick lately, and the trip would have been too much for him.

He seemed to catch on to her thoughts, and he spared her a glance. They both exchanged small smiles, and Videl very subtly blew him a kiss. Gohan smiled at his girlfriend and sat back. He pinched the eighth ticket in his fingers, suddenly smiling as he thought of his mother.

Finally, the principal wrapped up his speech and began to call out student names. However, since there were over four hundred students ahead of them, Gohan and Videl quickly got bored. As subtly as she could, Videl maneuvered her way down to where her boyfriend was and got the student beside him to trade seats.

"I don't suppose you brought something to watch or do while we wait," she teased, taking his hand in her own.

Gohan smiled. "I don't, but it looks like Trunks did."

Videl looked up and could just barely make out the image of the media player that Vegeta had taken away from his son. What was much easier to see was the look in Trunks' eyes as the boy considered whether or not it was worth going after.

She giggled and gave Gohan's hand a squeeze. "So," she whispered, making sure Gohan was the only one who could hear her, "we never really had a chance to talk alone since we got engaged."

Gohan's eyebrows rose slightly. "Are you sure this is the right time to talk about it?"

"Do you have anything better to do right now?" the brunette countered.

Chuckling lightly, Gohan gave her hand a squeeze back. "I guess we do have time, huh?" He shifted slightly in his chair, wondering if anyone had actually noticed that Videl was not where she was supposed to be. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Well," the girl slowly started, "I think the first thing we need to decide is exactly _when_ we're going to do it."

The eyebrows went slightly higher on Gohan's face. "Um, do we really need to pick a date right now?"

Videl giggled very quietly and shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant," she laughed. "I meant that we need to talk about if we're going to get married, like, tomorrow, in a year, after college…just a ballpark figure."

Gohan nodded. "Okay," he considered. "Well, we're going to the same college, so we won't be separated then." He drew a deep breath before locking eyes with his beloved. "Why don't we get married in the summer, before college starts?"

It was Videl's turn to sit a little straighter. She had not anticipated Gohan pushing for a wedding that quickly. "Summer?" she whispered back. "As in, that thing we're in right now?"

"Well, yeah," the demi-Saiyan responded. "Let's face it, the summer before university classes start is the last amount of down time we're realistically going to have for a long, long time. I mean, I'm planning on going for a doctorate, so I'll be in school for the next eight years. Minimum. I can't imagine trying to plan a wedding while trying to get all that done."

Videl could feel her entire body getting more tense. There were more aspects to being married than she had initially thought about. "Well, if that would be too hard," she softly said, "we could wait until you're done with that."

Gohan frowned. "But then my career is probably going to start, and the first few years are usually filled with internships that will have me running around for seventeen hours a day. It could easily be ten years before I have a lot of down time again."

Feeling her breath picking up, Videl dared to ask a question she was suddenly dreading. "So, does that mean that we won't have a family for ten years? Or that you're expecting me to not have a career and just raise the kids on my own?"

"What?" Gohan asked, his frown getting deeper. "Uh, I hadn't really had a chance to think about that." He looked away, desperately trying to come up with a reasonable solution to that question. There was nothing coming to mind. It was unfair for him to ask her to bow out of a career, but his own path was going to take up a lot of time over the next decade. "I…I don't know," he eventually answered. "What do you think we should do?"

Videl sighed. "I don't know," she honestly responded. "I would like to have kids someday, Gohan, but I don't know if I could raise them on my own."

"But I wouldn't be gone," Gohan quietly insisted. "Look, I know I won't be around as much as either of us would like, but I promise you, I will come home every single night. I will tell you I love you every single day. Every opportunity I will have to spend time with you will be yours without a second thought. I promise." He took both of her hands in his and made sure that she was looking into his eyes. "I promise, Videl, that I will never, ever, leave you alone."

The brunette fighter smiled up at her love. "I know," she softly told him. She leaned up and gave him a gentle but loving kiss. "Let's get married this summer."

"You're sure?" Gohan asked, his face lighting up.

Videl opened her mouth to answer, but one of the other students grabbed her shoulder. "Videl, they've called your name twice! Get up there!" The girl let out a small yelp, dashing for the stage and mortified that she made that mistake in front of a thousand cameras. As she reached the podium and grabbed her diploma, she turned around and watched Gohan applauding her. With a wide grin on her face, she nodded and mouthed the word 'yes'.

The grin on Gohan's face seemed wider than possible as the half Saiyan got to his feet, getting in line for his own diploma. Everything was finally coming back together with his life. He had graduated from high school, was accepted to the top university in the country, engaged to the girl of his dreams…it was all falling into place.

As he stepped up onto the podium, he slid his fingers on the ticket again. _This is your day, Mom_, he thought, grabbing his diploma. _You earned this_.


	13. Chapter 13

Bulma sat down in her arm chair and let out a small huff. She had been running around almost constantly over the past few days, trying to arrange everything for the graduation party, and her body was officially ready to quit. Her ankles were killing her to a degree that had waited until the bitter end of her pregnancy with Trunks, and her feet had swollen to the point where she could not get her shoes off her feet.

"Damn it," she growled, furious at the offending shoes. "Get the hell off my feet!"

"And to think, you keep telling us you never get mood swings."

Bulma glared at her husband as he entered the room. "You know, instead of standing over there being a smart ass, you could help me get these damn shoes off."

"No," the prince firmly responded.

Brilliant shades of scarlet raced across the heiress' face. "Are you freaking kidding me?" she hollered. "Why the hell won't you help me with this?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Because, you raving loon," he explained, "you're going to need them back on your feet in ten minutes, and I am sure as hell not going to cram those swollen, veiny feet back into your clearly too small shoes."

"I hate you!" she hissed, leaning in to the insult.

But Vegeta remained unphased. "Duly noted," he calmly accepted.

Still mad, Bulma huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Is there a reason you're in here, other than making my life a living hell?"

Offering no more than a casual shrug, Vegeta leaned against the door frame. "The brats are upstairs and taking a nap, meaning they are out of my hair," he answered. "It is a rare moment of silence in this household."

Bulma's features softened slightly, and a hint of a smile showed up. "Okay, I'll give you that," she replied. It had been quite a while since the two boys were down and out for any amount of time in an afternoon, and they always savored the times when such an instance occurred. "I don't suppose there's any chance at all you'll go get my bedroom slippers for me?" she sheepishly asked her husband. "It's just the gang, and I really don't care if they see me in my slippers."

Vegeta rolled his eyes again, but he did push off from the frame. "You get one favor a day," he warned. "Do you want to use that privilege now?"

The heiress bit the corner of her lip, and she considered her options seriously. "Yeah," she finally decided, "this is the one." As she watched her husband leave, Bulma sighed contently. Vegeta would always be rough around the edges, but he was infinitely more tolerant of her needs than he had been a decade earlier.

As badly as she wanted to just stay in the chair, though, she was not done preparing for the party. There was only going to be another hour before the celebrating would officially again, and the only things done were half of the decorations. There was food to prepare, there were tables to set, there were several gallons on punch to be stirred, and she still did not have Gohan's graduation present wrapped.

As she began to prepare for the festivities to come, her frown returned full force. Gohan was going off to college in just a couple of months, and he had already told her that he was planning on moving out. While Bulma fully supported Gohan's decision, and she knew that it was important for him to form his own life, she was sincerely not looking forward to the day he moved out. Goten was not going to take that news well.

The youngest member of the Son clan had been through a lot over the past few months. Losing his mother and leaving the only home he had ever known had been brutal on the boy. It had only been recently that the child had started to return to his happy nature, and Bulma was grimly certain that having Gohan move out was going to push Goten over an edge. She was torn between telling Goten herself and making his big brother do it. It seemed cruel to make Gohan break his brother's heart, but the pregnant heiress desperately did not want to be the one to do it.

With a tired sigh, she began programming the kitchen bots. If nothing else, she was grateful that the conversation could wait for another day.

/

"So, who should we tell first?" Gohan asked, smiling down at his intended.

Videl smiled and leaned in to her fiancé's strong shoulders. "If it's alright with you," she asked, "can we tell my dad first?"

"Sure," Gohan gently agreed, kissing the top of her head. "But right after him, I get to tell Bulma."

Videl quirked an eyebrow. "Don't you have another legal guardian in that home?" she gently teased.

"Do you think Vegeta gives a damn when we're getting married?" Gohan chuckled back.

"Touché," the girl laughed, nuzzling up against her love. "But at least that means you can tell Goten sooner."

Gohan's smile began to falter. He had been so wrapped up in thoughts of his future that he had somewhat forgotten about the present. When he got married, he would no longer live with Goten. And, as far as Gohan could tell, he was Gohan's only living relative, save their ill grandfather.

Doubts began to flood his soul. How could he do that to his little brother? How could he walk away from him like that? How could he just abandon him like that? How could he turn his back on Goten?

"I have to tell Goten," he softly said to himself.

Videl felt the tension running through her boyfriend's body. "Gohan?" she quietly asked. "What's wrong with telling Goten?"

Gohan began to shake his head. "I can't leave him," he realized. "I can't leave my brother."

The girl in his arms became instantly rigid. "Are you saying that you don't want to get married, or that your brother is coming with us?" she nervously asked. Though, if she were at all honest with herself, neither of those seemed like options she would enjoy.

"I...I don't know," Gohan stammered. With a miserable look in his eyes, the taller teenager looked into the eyes of his love. "Videl, I can't abandon Goten. I can't do that to him."

Hesitantly, Videl took Gohan's large hands in her own. "Gohan," she began as calmly as she could, "I understand that you don't want to feel like you're abandoning your brother."

"I..."

"I understand," the petite warrior went on, not letting her love get a word in edgewise, "that you have been responsible for Goten's well-being from the day he was born. And I understand that the last thing in the world that you want to do is in any way hurt your brother."

"I..."

"But you need to hear this," Videl pushed on. "Goten is your brother, and he always will be. And you need to know that I really do know how much he means to you." She sighed sadly, dropping her eyes to their hands. "But I am not ready to raise a seven year old right now, Gohan. And neither are you. It would be hard enough to tackle both our university classes and a new marriage. Raising a child like Goten would be too much."

Gohan frowned, but he sensed that she was not yet done and he chose to stay quiet.

"Taking Goten with us is not a realistic option," Videl quietly, but firmly, explained. "I believe, in my heart, that he will be alright in the end. Yeah, it's going to be hard for him. He's lived with you his whole life. But you can't make your life stop just to make him more comfortable. If you do..." Her gaze shifted all the way down to the ground beneath her feet. "If you do," she repeated, "then I don't think this is going to work out."

All of the color drained from Gohan's face, and a river of ice coursed through his veins. "What?" he barely managed to whisper.

"I love you, Gohan," she told him, "but I don't think I can take all that responsibility on right now. I'm only eighteen. It's too much."

Though Gohan tried to keep his feelings controlled, Videl felt his hands shaking in hers. He had to swallow a few times just to get his voice to work, and even then it was soft and broken. "Are you saying that I have to pick between you and Goten?"

"No!" Videl shot back, an angry look on her face. "I'm saying that you need to live your own life, and that I can't help you hide from reality!" The petite warrior took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. "Marrying me does not mean that Goten will be out of your life, Gohan," she lectured. "There's no law that says that once you move out you have to cut all ties. You could easily see him several times a week."

The trembling stopped, and Gohan deeply considered what he was being told. "I guess so," he hesitantly responded, "but it still feels like I'm walking out on him."

The corner of Videl's mouth actually began to turn upward. "That's because you have the most overactive conscience on the face of the Earth," she teased, giving his hands a gentle squeeze. "Listen to me, Gohan. I know you don't want to hurt your brother, but you can't stay with him forever. Even if you didn't get married, and you decided to fly to class every day during college, what would you do when you graduated? When you got a job? When we get married? You can't be with him forever."

Though he did not want to admit it, Gohan knew that his love was right. "I just don't want to hurt him," he admitted. "I want to make sure he's okay."

"And he will be," Videl assured. "Have faith in your brother, Gohan, and have faith in your extended family. Trunks would rather die than let anything happen to Goten. Bulma's not your mom, but you know damn well that she loves Goten like her own. And even Vegeta is clearly looking out for him."

"You're right," Gohan admitted. A soft but genuine smile came upon his young face. "Man, how did I ever get by without you here to point this stuff out?"

"That, sweetie, is one of the great mysteries of the universe," his girl teased. "Now give me a hug and a kiss, and let's get to what I'm sure will be a kick-ass graduation party."

With a laugh, Gohan did as he was told and held Videl close. "Yeah," he chuckled, nuzzling the top of her head, "let's go."

/

Goten mumbled to himself as he turned over, only slightly coherent of his actions. He and Trunks had stayed up almost all night the night before, and while he had been excited to watch his big brother graduate, Goten had been completely exhausted. The two boys had fallen asleep almost immediately after they had gotten back to the compound. If he had been in charge of the day, Goten would have declared the entire afternoon as nap time.

At his side, Trunks groaned and cracked his eyes open. His phone was vibrating, the alarm letting him know that it was time to get up for the party. He had set it in the middle of the night, knowing well enough that staying up that late would definitely lead to a crash the next day. Cursing mildly under his breath, the little prince turned the offending appliance off. He rolled over with another groan, his shoulders unbelievably stiff. The two boys had fallen asleep on the playroom floor, and Trunks was not happy with the results.

"Hey, wake up," he mumbled, looking over at his best friend.

Goten whimpered in his sleep. "I don't want to go to school today."

Rolling his eyes, Trunks rocked his best friend by the shoulder. "You don't go to school ever, you dummy," he grumpily pointed out. "And it doesn't matter if you want to get up or not. My mom's gonna kill us if we sleep through the party."

Goten's eyes shot open. "I don't want to die!" he cried, jumping up to his feet.

Startled, Trunks jumped back. "Geez, don't do that to me!" he scolded. "What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?"

Letting himself calm down a little, Goten scratched the back of his head. "Oops, sorry about that, Trunks!" he apologized. "I didn't mean to do that to you!"

"Yeah, right," Trunks grumbled. "Anyway, get your butt up. We need to make sure we're, like, ready for this party."

With a confused look on his face, Goten dropped his arms to his sides. "But Trunks," he asked, "how are we supposed to get ready? We already got our clothes on, so what else do we need to do?"

Brushing off his pants and getting to his feet, Trunks shook his head. "We gotta go see if Mom needs any help with anything," he explained. "There's a lot that has to get done for these things, and Mom hasn't had a lot of energy lately."

"Because of the baby?" Goten asked.

Trunks nodded. "Yeah, that's the reason Mom gave me."

A very small frown appeared across Goten's features. "So, when a mommy is gonna have a baby, it makes her feel bad?"

Trunks only shrugged, unable to provide any more information. After all, his mother liked to tell him just enough to get him curious about something without actually telling him anything, so he was almost as clueless as Goten.

The frown deepened. "Does that mean that when our mommies were gonna have us, we made them feel bad?"

Trunks' quirked an eyebrow in his best friend's direction. Was that true? Was his mom as sick when she was going to have him as she was with this new kid? Did she throw up all the time and get really cranky? As he thought about it, Trunks realized that it did make sense. His father had told him that his mom was 'a remarkably loud, cranky bitch' when she was pregnant before, but his dad _always_ said that about his mom. Trunks had not really been expecting to see that much of a difference, but even he could not deny that there was a lot more soft stepping around the blue haired heiress than usual. "I guess so," he eventually admitted.

"So, I made my mommy feel bad?"

The little prince went completely rigid. "Um, no! Of course not!" he quickly insisted. "You never did anything like that, Goten! Ever!"

"But you just said..."

"My mom is probably just weaker than your mom," Trunks defended, frantically trying to find an argument that would keep the younger boy happy. "Yeah! Your mom probably felt great when she was pregnant. In fact, it was probably the best time of her life!"

Goten did not seem convinced. "So, that means she had more fun _before_ I was born?" he questioned.

Trunks smacked himself in the face. '_Seriously, Dende?_' he thought. '_You're seriously making me do this right now?_' "No, that's not what I meant," he tried to reason. "Um, what I was saying was...was..." Nervously, Trunks began to scan the room, looking for something, anything, that would help him come up with a believable story. Normally, coming up with a lie was practically second nature to Trunks. He could never get anything past his father, but he could con and bluff his way out of just about anything. Failing with that ability had never really been a problem before.

"Look," he begged, "can't you just accept the fact that you never did anything that ever made your mom feel bad? I mean, we all know it's true!"

"But it's not true!" Goten countered, his lower lip starting to quiver. "Mommy got really sad the day I went Super Saiyan! She cried when I did that!"

"Your mom cried for everything!" Trunks fought back. "She probably wasn't sad or anything, Goten. She probably just was so proud of you that she didn't know how to show it!" That seemed like a valid excuse. It was certainly heard in his household enough to pass for one.

But Goten would not calm down. "No!" he insisted. "You weren't there! Mommy was really sad about it!" Tears began to roll down the little boy's cheek. "I never wanted to make Mommy sad," he quietly cried. "But I did. I made her sad. And I can't make her happy anymore."

Dropping his defenses, Trunks sighed and wrapped his arms around his best friend. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he assured. "You made your mom really happy, Goten. And we talked about this, remember? Just because you don't see her right now doesn't mean you'll never see her again." He gave his friend a reassuring squeeze. "You can still make her happy."

The younger boy heard Trunks' words, but he gave no verbal response. He stood there quietly, crying softly into his best friend's shoulder. Minutes passed before he quietly whispered, "I miss Mommy."

Trunks tightened the hug, but said nothing, offering a quiet comfort for the boy.

/

"Damn it," Bulma growled, shoving furiously at a decoration that had offended her. "Where the hell is that boy? I can't do this alone, and I was stupid enough to call in my only favor on a pair of damn slippers!"

Marching over to the wall, Bulma slammed her finger onto the intercom's button. "Trunks!" she loudly called into the device, "get down here! Now!"

She stepped back and crossed her arms, tapping her foot in agitation as she awaited a reply of any kind. The intercom did not crackle to life for a verbal response, and she heard no indication of the telltale footsteps of a demi-Saiyan sprinting through the house. Her patience ran out quickly, and she once again slammed down on the button.

"Trunks Briefs, I order you to get down here right now!"

Several seconds passed before the heiress heard the intercom come back to life. "Not now, Mom," Trunks quietly told his mother.

Growling, Bulma responded. "This is non-negotiable, young man!"

"Mom," Trunks said, a noticeable increase of conviction in his voice, "take the hint."

Bulma blinked, taking a step back. She had never heard her son speak in that tone before, and it raised concerns. "Honey?" she asked, her voice suddenly gentle. "What is it?"

"Tell you later," Trunks replied, ending the conversation.

That certainly did not make the expectant mother calm down at all. She desperately wanted to find out what was wrong and make sure her little boy was alright, but her instincts told her that pressing him further would not help at all. Though it was never a strong point of hers, Bulma decided to be patient and wait for her son to seek her.

With a sad look on her face, Bulma picked up the decoration she had thrown to the floor. She turned it over in her hands, watching the light reflecting off of it. Everything had been so stressful over the past few months that she found herself wondering sometimes how they managed to do it. She never regretted taking in the Son boys, but the dynamic in the house had definitely changed.

Vegeta was quieter, forcing himself to restrain his more aggressive tendencies, particularly around Goten. Bulma suspected that the change was less about respecting Goten's feelings and more about keeping the younger boy quiet, but she was not foolish enough to voice that opinion out loud. And Trunks had stopped acting his own age and seemed to be taking on very adult responsibilities with his best friend. He had been Goten's therapist, protector, and guardian angel. It was impressive that he was able to at such a young age, but Bulma worried that it was too much for the boy.

With a tired sigh, she sat down at the kitchen table. "What am I going to do?" she quietly asked herself. "How am I going to get my little boy back?"

"You know, talking with yourself is a sign of insanity."

With a soft chuckle, the heiress turned and looked at her husband. "Maybe it is," she began with a soft laugh, "but do you really want to make a bulleted list of the signs of insanity to see which one of us is crazier? Because I'm pretty sure you'll win that one."

"Hardly," Vegeta snorted. "Unlike you, I am in full control of my mental faculties."

"Oh, yeah?" Bulma countered. "You've trained at suicidal levels for the hell of it. I'm just adorably eccentric."

The Saiyan raised an eyebrow. "Is eccentric not a word that means you are insane, but happen to have financial wealth?"

The heiress threw the decoration at her husband, but she laughed as he caught it. "You're a royal pain in my ass."

"True," the prince agreed. "After all, if you are not actively harassing someone, where is the fun?"

With another laugh, Bulma got to her feet. "I don't suppose you'll help me decorate," she said, clearly more of a statement than a question. "I know I cashed in on my favor, and I'm not dumb enough to ask for another one."

"Because I'll stop offering that one," Vegeta nodded.

"Yup," Bulma giggled. "But, just to keep you informed, if I happened to have some entertaining company around me, I'll probably be in a much better mood for the rest of the day. In fact," she went on, taking the decoration from his hand, "if I were kept in good company _all_ _afternoon_, I will probably be in a _very_ good mood tonight." She kissed him on the cheek and turned to walk away. "Just so you know."

"Hn," Vegeta responded, taking a seat. "Interesting."

/

Gohan gently placed his love on the back lawn of Capsule Corp. They had a very long day, and Videl had been a little too tired to fly. "Hey, listen," he softly told her, "could you..."

"Not tell anyone about the talk we had?" she interrupted, smiling at him. "Don't worry about it."

Looking somewhat surprised, Gohan smiled down at his bride to be. "How do you know me so well?"

Videl laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "Because," she calmly explained, "I am almost as obsessive as you are and I study people carefully. That, and I like you." She pat his cheek affectionately before turning to the main compound. "Come on," she told him, "let's go see if Bulma needs any help."

With a smile on his face and holding his love by the hand, Gohan followed Videl toward the compound. He really was feeling as though everything was really going to turn out alright.

It felt wonderful.


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey guys!" Gohan called out, walking into the compound. "We're not too early, are we?"

"Gohan!" Bulma cried out, dropping the decoration from her hand. "You weren't supposed to be here for another hour!"

Scratching the back of his head, the teenager chuckled with good nature. "Yeah, I know," he admitted, "but we thought maybe we could come and help you get set up."

"Absolutely not!" the heiress shot in a flash. "This is your party, young man, and I will not have you doing the hard work for your own celebration! Now go out, have some fun, and come back in an hour!"

From Gohan's side, Videl let out a small laugh. "Bulma, it's not that hard," she told the expectant mother. "And besides, who's going to help you?" The small fighter shot a look at Vegeta, who was quite content to sit back and observe the entire ordeal.

Gohan, who had also noticed the prince, shook his head and smiled. "One favor rule cashed out?"

"Hn," he responded with a nod.

Videl threw up her arms in frustration, still not completely used to the obscure mannerisms of the members of the Briefs household. It was still beyond her how such absurd rules and practices could work in a family. It seemed ridiculous, and yet it somehow worked. "Well, since his royal highness isn't doing anything," the girl went on, no longer tiptoeing around her statement, "you may as well let us help you."

"No," Bulma said again. "I will not have you doing any such thing!"

"Well, is there anything we could do to help out that you wouldn't call work?" the teenage boy pitched. "Come on, Bulma, you can't tell me there's nothing to be done, and you're only going to make me a basket case if you make me sit back and watch as you do all this work. Give me something!"

Letting out a small laugh, Bulma shook her head. "Always need to be helping, don't you?" she chuckled. "Alright, here's something you could do. Trunks hinted at Goten maybe having an off day earlier. I think it's probably because the two delinquents were awake until goodness only knows when last night, but if you're insisting on helping, could you take a look in on him?"

Gohan's smile faltered, thinking to what he and Videl had just discussed. Protecting Goten was a responsibility he had long taken seriously, and the idea of his kid brother struggling without him being aware of it bothered Gohan. "Yeah, not a problem," he quickly answered, already making his way for the door. "Do you have any more information that that?"

Sadly, Bulma shook her head. "Sorry, kiddo," she apologized. "Look, you don't have to do it…"

"No!" the boy interrupted, halfway out the door. "I'm on it!"

Before either of the women could finish blinking, Gohan was already up the stairs and in search of his younger brother. Exchanging a curious glance with one another, Bulma and Videl shook their heads. "Do you ever get used to them being able to do that?" Videl asked the older woman.

"Nope," the heiress replied, sparing a glare at her husband. "You're always aware that they can do that, but you never get used to talking to one, turning around to glance at something, and turning back to find that they're seventeen miles away and have completely abandoned you at the mall and have left you to fend for yourself like the little asses that they are."

"It was the boy's call," Vegeta responded with a shrug.

Videl glanced back and forth between the couple, curious about what, exactly, the story was, but not enough to actually ask. Going from the rumors she had heard from the others, asking questions about that particular pair was either going to get you yelled at or traumatized. "Um, I'll go catch up with Gohan," she nervously excused herself. She had been coming around to Capsule Corp frequently over the past few weeks, but she was still wary around the odd couple residing there.

Up the stairs, Gohan approached the room he sensed the two younger boys in. "Goten?" he gently said, sliding the door open. "Can I come in?"

He heard no words spoken, but he could clearly make out the distinct sound of sniffles. Opening the door all the way, Gohan stepped in all the way and saw Goten crying against Trunks' chest. "Goten?" he softly said, kneeling down and putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Goten did not say a word as he quickly made the transfer from his friend to his brother. When that little boy latched on, Gohan felt his heart melt. Goten had only genuinely cried a small handful of times in his life, and it was heart wrenching every time. The little boy held on so tightly that it actually hurt his older brother's shoulders. Gohan pulled his brother in tightly, with one hand on Goten's back and the other on the back of his head.

"Hey, it's okay," Gohan softly told his brother, rubbing his back. Out of the corner of his eye, Gohan watched as Trunks mouthed his silent thanks and left the room. Giving his brother's back a gentle pat, he asked, "Tell me what's wrong, Goten."

Goten continued to sniffle, and he buried his head on Gohan's chest. "I miss Mommy," he quietly cried.

Gohan tightened his grip, wanting to cry a little himself at the statement. "I do to, Goten," he gently answered. "I miss her too."

"Why did she have to go away?" the little boy asked. "Why can't we have Mommy here anymore?"

"I don't know," Gohan honestly answered, giving another squeeze. It was the only answer he had when she had died, and it was still the only answer he had. He knew the medicine behind it well enough. He had taken to studying cardiology with a vengeance after Chi-Chi's death, and he could explain the science behind it flawlessly. But that was not what Goten was looking for. Goten, like Gohan, wanted to know why the powers that be decided that a thirty-eight year old mother would be taken away from her two young sons. Particularly since the powers that be were, theoretically, friends of the family.

"It's not fair!" Goten shouted, pounding his fists angrily against his big brother's chest. "It's not fair that Mommy isn't here! They should give her back!"

Gohan calmly put his hands around Goten's tiny fists. "They should," he agreed. "But they won't, Goten."

"Well, they're stupid!" the small boy furiously screamed. "They need to give me Mommy back! I've been good and they owe me!"

With love and ease, Gohan pulled his brother back in to the hug. "You have been good," he gently told the boy. "You have been so very, very good, Goten. And I really think they do owe you something special. But they can't give you Mom back, and that's very sad. I wish she could come back too, Goten. I wish it so badly sometimes that I actually sometimes think that she'll come home."

Goten tilted his head to the side and sniffled, inadvertently wiping his nose on his older brother's shirt. "Really?" he asked.

"Really," Gohan answered.

Goten pulled back slightly, wiping a few tears from his eyes as he looked up at his brother's face. "Can you tell me another story?"

"Oh, I think that sounds like fun."

The two Son boys looked up to find Videl standing in the doorway, a gentle smile on her face. "Sorry to eavesdrop," she apologized, "but you two are just too cute together." She giggled slightly as both boys immediately blushed and looked at the floor, and she grabbed a few cushions off of the couch. In no time at all, she had made a little bed on the floor and signaled for the Son's to join her. "So," she mentioned, laying down, "what story shall we hear?"

Gohan walked over and lay on the pillows, and Goten quickly nestled between the pair. "Let Gohan pick the story," the little boy insisted. "He tells real good stories."

Chuckling slightly, Gohan once again scratched the back of his head. He had been telling Goten stories for years, but he had never had to do it with an audience before. "Well, I don't know if they're _that_ good…"

"Yes they are!" Goten insisted. "His stories are the best!" He looked up at his big brother's face and grinned. "Tell us one of your stories!"

Gohan let out a small sigh of defeat before settling completely into the pillows. He wrapped an arm around Goten and gave him a quick hug before beginning. "Once upon a time, there was a little boy who lived in the woods."

"Was that Daddy?" Goten asked eagerly.

But Gohan shook his head. "Nope, not this time, Squirt," he answered. "This little boy lived far away from the big cities, and the nearest villages were pretty far away, so he did not have a lot of friends."

Goten stuck out his lower lip. "That's sad!"

"It is," Gohan agreed, looking down at the pillows. "But even though this little boy did not have a lot of friends, he had a mommy and a daddy who loved him very, very much. They taught him, and they played with him, and they always made sure he was safe and happy."

"Yea!" the younger Son cheered. He liked it best when the stories were happy.

"But one day," Gohan went on, "a monster came to a nearby village, and the little boy's daddy had to go fight the monster."

Suddenly a little frightened by the story, Goten curled up into a bit of a ball, and he snuggled up to Videl so she could protect him while Gohan finished the story. The indigo eyed girl smiled at the action, and wrapped both arms around the child.

"Did he beat the monster?" Goten softly asked.

Gohan nodded. "Yes, he beat the monster. But more monsters were coming, and the little boy's daddy knew he could not fight them alone. He called all of his friends to help, but they still did not have enough to stop the monsters. So they had to ask the little boy if he could help them, too."

"And did he?"

"Yes," Gohan answered. "He went with them, and he tried to help, but he was very scared. Some of the monsters were very, very big and scary, and the little boy wanted to go home to his mommy and let the grown-ups do the fighting."

Goten peaked out from his protected area slightly. "Did he run away?" he quietly asked.

"For a little bit," Gohan admitted, not looking at either of the other occupants of the room. "One of the monsters was coming straight at him, and he was so scared that he ran really fast and hid behind a rock."

"Can't monsters go around rocks?"

"Yeah, the kid didn't think about that at the time," Gohan mumbled. Shaking his head, he quickly got back into story mode. "Anyway, with a lot of hard work, the little boy, his daddy, and their friends were able to beat those monsters."

Goten pumped a fist in the air, barely missing Videl's nose, as he cheered, "Woo-hoo!" As soon as he had his arm tucked back where it had been, he looked at Gohan with big, bright eyes. "And then there were no more monsters, right?"

"Wrong," Gohan answered. "There were a lot more monsters."

Once again, Goten's lower lip stuck out in a pout. "Where the heck are all these monsters coming from?" he demanded.

_Ask Vegeta, he'll probably know_, the teenager thought. "I don't know," he replied. "But they kept coming. One more time, the little boy, his daddy, and all of their friends got together to fight the monsters. But the monsters were even meaner than the ones before, and they just barely managed to stop them, even with the help of some new friends."

"Wow," Goten whispered in awe. "They were really tough monsters, huh?"

"Very tough," the big brother confirmed. "But the little boy did not run away that time. He stayed the whole time, and he did everything he could to help his daddy and his friends to fight off the monsters."

Goten let out a small whistle. "That kid is getting brave," he said, his voice full of admiration. Gohan blushed at the compliment, and Videl let out a very small giggle as she watched the slow spread of pink make its way across her fiancé's face. It was downright adorable.

Clearing his throat, Gohan moved on with the story. "The little boy, his daddy, and their friends thought that they were done with the monsters," he continued. "After all, how many more monsters could there be?"

"That's what I wanted to know!"

Both teenagers chuckled, and Videl gave Goten an extra strong hug. "Let your brother tell the story," she loudly whispered to her boy.

"Okay," he loudly whispered back. He turned again to his big brother and, in his loudest stage whisper, told him, "You can finish the story now."

"Thank you," Gohan whispered in reply. He cleared his throat again, once more bringing it up to its normal level. "All of the friends were celebrating that the monsters were defeated when a stranger came to them. He told them that there were new monsters coming, monsters that were meaner and stronger than any other monster they had ever heard of."

Scared again, Goten once more formed into a ball in Videl's arms.

"So the little boy, his daddy, and all of their friends, even the new ones, worked very, very hard to get ready to fight the monsters. After all, they did not want to let the monsters win. So they trained and they trained and they trained, and they did everything they could to get ready for the new monsters."

"Were the ready?" Goten meekly asked.

Gohan bit the corner of his lip slightly, drawing a breath before answering, "Almost. When the first few monsters showed up, they were pretty easy to beat, and all the friends thought everything was going to be okay. But when the next few monsters came out, they had a very hard time. And when the big boss monster came out, they found out that they weren't strong enough to beat him."

Goten whimpered slightly, and he nestled closer to the girl he had started to call big sister.

"That last monster was so scary that the friends did not know what to do," Gohan told his brother. "They tried a few things, but it seemed like nothing was going to work. The little boy's daddy went to fight the monster, and it was a very close fight. But the little boy's daddy was not quite strong enough to finish it. So he turned to the little boy, and he smiled at him."

The youngest Son stopped shivering and quirked an eyebrow. "That's kind of a weird time to smile, Gohan," he pointed out.

"I agree," the big brother replied. "But that's what the daddy did. And he told the little boy, you are the one who can stop this monster. You are the one who can save the day."

"Wow," Goten whispered. "Wasn't the little boy scared?"

"Very," Gohan agreed. "He went in, and he fought as hard as he could, but the monster was so scary that the little boy did not think he could do it. But the little boy's daddy told him that he believed in him, and the little boy found the strength to stop the monster once and for all."

"Yea!" Goten cheered. "And that's it? No more monsters?"

Once again, Gohan dropped his eyes. "When that monster was gone," he softly went on, "the little boy's daddy had to go away."

Goten's eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. "What?" he asked. "But why?"

"Because he knew that the monsters were coming after him," Gohan explained, his eyes still lowered. "And he thought that the only way to keep his family and his friends safe from all the big, scary monsters out there was for him to go away. So he left them to protect them."

"That's so sad," Goten whimpered. "Wasn't the little boy sad?"

"Very sad," Gohan answered, eyes still down. "And so was the little boy's mommy."

Across from him, Videl's eyes were welling up slightly. She knew that Goku's departure had been hard on the Son family, and it hurt every time Gohan talked about it. Even if that event had taken place years ago, Gohan still carried those memories around like open wounds.

"But," Gohan went on, finally bringing his eyes up to his little brother, "the daddy gave the little boy and his mommy a very special present before he left."

"Really?"

Gohan nodded. "Mm-hm. He gave them a cherub to keep them happy."

Goten frowned slightly. "What's a cherub?"

"It's like a little angel," Videl quietly explained, hugging the boy again. "It's very small, and it's very cute, and it makes people happy all the time."

The child nodded, accepting the explanation, before turning once again to hear more of the story. "So the cherub made them happy, right?"

"Right," Gohan affirmed. "He was so good and so sweet that he even was able to make friends with a little gremlin."

"And a gremlin is…"

Videl giggled. "Not as cute, still pretty small, but best known for getting into lots and lots of trouble." Goten matched his sister's giggle. He had the perfect image in his head for that description.

Gohan, having come to the same mental picture, had to fight to keep from outright laughing. It took a minute before he was able to go on with the tale. "The little boy, his mommy, and the cherub spent many very happy years together," he told them. "But then, one day, an angel came down to them, and told the little boy's mommy that she was going to be one of them."

Goten's frown returned. "Could she stay with the little boy and the cherub if she was an angel?" he softly asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Gohan sadly answered. "The little boy's mommy did not want to be an angel, but she realized that if she became their _guardian_ angel, then she could look over them and protect them all the time. Then, at least, she could still be with the little boy and the cherub in spirit."

"Wow," Goten whispered. "So, the little boy's got a cherub _and_ a guardian angel?"

"Yep," Gohan answered. "And he's got even more than that." The teenager shifted his gaze, catching Videl's eye as he smiled. "The little boy met a beautiful princess, and he fell head over heels in love with her."

Videl smile brightly at her fiancé, and she felt her own cheeks warming up significantly at the turn the story was taking. "Oh, he did, did he?" she coyly asked.

"Completely," Gohan affirmed, still looking at Videl. "And she fell in love with him, too. And they decided that they wanted to get married and live happily ever after with each other."

Goten smiled at the thought. "That's sweet," he commented.

"It is," Gohan gently said, his eyes returning to his little brother. "But the little boy found out that you're not allowed to take cherubs with you when you get married, and that made him really sad because he loved the cherub so, so much."

"But he loved the princess, too!" Goten interrupted, slightly frazzled by the idea. "You can't fall in love with a princess and then not marry her! That's against the storybook rules!"

Gohan pat Goten on the shoulder before tucking his arm underneath his head again. "Well, what do you want them to do then, Goten?" he asked.

The younger Son boy stuck his lips out and tapped his chin, a common pose for when he was problem solving. He did not want the cherub to go away, but he had to get the little boy and the princess married. "Well," he said after a while, "if they get married, does that mean they can't see the cherub again, like, _ever?_"

"Oh, goodness, no," Videl answered. "They could still see the cherub. They just can't let the cherub live with them."

Goten nodded, figuring a few things out. "Well, maybe the little boy and the princess could get a castle that's, like, really close to where the cherub lives. Then they can still see him all the time, and they don't break the storybook code by not being married." He gave himself a self-satisfied nod. "Yep, that's what they should do."

"Well, if that's what you want them to do," Videl gently told the boy, "then that's what they'll do."

Goten giggled and gave his big sister a hug. "You're the princess, aren't you, Videl?" He smiled when he watched her nod. Turning the other way, he grinned at his brother. "And you're the little boy who didn't know that monsters can go around rocks!"

"Hey, I was five years old at the time!" Gohan defended. "Cut me some slack!"

The other two laughed at the outburst, and Goten glanced back and forth between the two teenagers on the pillows. "So that means that the cherub is me and the gremlin is Trunks?"

"Do you know any other gremlins?" Gohan teased.

Once again, Goten giggled. "And if you're the little boy, and Videl is the princess, then you're going to get married because you don't want to break the storybook code."

"Those are the rules," Videl agreed.

His smile faltering slightly, Goten looked up at his big brother. "And that means that you're going to be getting a castle nearby, right? So we can still play all the time?"

Reaching out, Gohan stole his brother away from Videl. "Well, I don't know about a castle," he admitted, "but whatever we live in, we'll make sure that we still see you as often as we can."

"We have to," Videl added. "You're our little cherub! We're just not happy if we don't get to see you!"

"And Mommy is our guardian angel, so she's watching us right now?" Goten quietly asked.

"Always," Gohan answered.

Giggling slightly, the young boy added, "So she already knows that we're living with a gremlin?"

Both Gohan and Videl laughed. "Honey," Videl answered, "she knew Trunks was a gremlin a _long_ time ago." She reached out and pat the child's cheek, offering him a warm smile. "So, would you be okay if I married Gohan and I took him to our admittedly small castle?"

Goten considered the offer for a moment. "Can I bring the gremlin with me when I visit?"

"You're a package deal," Gohan answered, rolling his eyes. "We're surprised when we see one of you without the other."

All three of them laughed before Videl got up. "Well, that was a very nice story, Gohan," she praised. "And I certainly would like to hear more of them. But I think we're supposed to be getting downstairs. After all, there's a big party that's supposed to start."

Goten was on his feet in an instant. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…" He continued to repeat himself all the way down the stairs, leaving a laughing Gohan and Videl in his wake.

"That was very sweet of you," Videl told her love.

Gohan blushed as he wrapped an arm around his intended's waist. "Come on," he said, kissing the top of her head, "let's get down there before the gremlin and the cherub destroy the place."


	15. Chapter 15

Goten bounced outside, a giant grin on his face as he called out, "Hi, everybody!" The only people to have arrived by that point were Krillen, Eighteen, and Marron, and it had only been a few hours since he had seen them last, but that did not make him any less excited to see them. He was a born people person, and any excuse to socialize was a good one to him.

"Hi, Goten!" Marron replied, giving the hyper little boy a hug. "Did you eat all the food before we got here?"

The demi-Saiyan put a mock pout on his face. "Do you really think I would?"

"You've done it before," Trunks interjected, sipping from a can of soda as he joined them. "Twice."

All three children laughed, and Trunks guided the younger two toward the snack table. "This is what we're allowed to tackle now," he told them. Less than half a second later, he had his hand firmly placed on Goten's chest and gave the boy a hard look. "Not literally!"

As the children entertained themselves outside, Krillen and Eighteen let themselves in. "Hey!" Krillen greeted with a wave. "How goes it?"

Offering a tired smile, Bulma responded, "Not bad, all things considered. But why are you guys here so early?"

"Thought we might be able to help," Krillen honestly replied. "There's a lot to get done for a party like this, and you've definitely had your hands full over the last few months."

"What, just because I've had three half-Saiyan children running around my house and no two of them respond to things the exact same way?" Bulma teased.

Eighteen rolled her eyes. "Except for food, I assume."

But Bulma shook her head. "They even handle _that_ differently," she informed them. "Goten will eat anything and everything that is in front of him, so long as someone has told him that it's edible. It doesn't actually have to _be_ edible, but someone does have to tell him it is. Gohan shows a little more discretion, and unlike the little guy, he does show manners when he eats. You know, when it's not right after a training session."

"I can imagine," Krillen laughed. "We've all seen that before."

Bulma nodded with a laugh of her own. "Yeah, we have. And Trunks likes to pretend that he's more sophisticated than the Son boys are. He always starts out very proper, but five minutes into it that all falls away and he goes at it just like Goten does."

With another laugh, Krillen shook his head. "Man, Bulma, I have no idea how you manage to keep four Saiyans fed on a regular basis."

"Well, there are my impeccable culinary skills," she returned, clearly making fun of herself. "Not to mention my everlasting patience and fortitude. Truly, I am a saint among women."

From behind her, Vegeta let out a snort. "The robots do it," he snidely pointed out. "If the cooking was left to her, we'd all have starved to death long ago."

While Bulma threw a streamer at her husband, she could not help but laugh. She knew as well as anyone that cooking was hardly her strongest skill, and that her family was not exaggerating by that much when they mocked what little skill she had. "You know, it's not like you're exactly a master chef yourself, mister."

"Perhaps not," the man countered, "but I have never set cereal on fire."

Bulma's face was red in an instant. "Geez, you do it _one time_ and they never let you forget!"

As the adult's laughed at the heiress' expense, Videl and Gohan entered the room. "Hey guys!" Gohan happily greeted. "What's so funny?"

"Bulma's cooking," Krillen laughed, holding his sides as he remembered one glorious adventure with the toaster. Wiping a tear of laughter from his eye, the short man approached the two teenagers. "Hey, congratulations are in order!" he told them. "You never have to go to high school again!"

From behind him, Eighteen rolled her eyes. "You never went to high school," she informed the group in a monotonous tone.

Blushing slightly, Krillen responded with, "Doesn't mean I haven't heard horror stories about it."

"And it's not like you're out of school yet," Bulma told the young couple. "You've both been accepted to a great school, and I expect both of you to take your studies there very seriously."

Beside her, Krillen cracked up again. "Are you kidding me?" he laughed. "You, the former delinquent who cut out on over half your classes from kindergarten on? The mistress of 'I already know it, leave me the hell alone' is telling the most hard core student we've ever known to take college life seriously? I'm sorry, did you get severe head trauma or something?"

As the adults continued to joke and laugh, Gohan and Videl tried to slip away from the group. If possible, they wanted to enjoy a little more time alone. They were both always happy to lend a helping hand when needed, but they were young and in love, and a little private time seemed divine.

However, their little escape attempt did not go unnoticed. "Hey, Gohan," Bulma called out, slowly getting to her feet, "since you don't appear to be busy right now, do you think you could keep an eye on the little hell raisers for me? You know, what with you being one of two people on the planet who would be able to stop them if they get wound up, and with that other one on work refusal mode?"

"You called it in," Vegeta casually responded. "You could have saved it for brat duty, but you traded it in for slippers. Live with it."

Grumbling slightly, Bulma snatched a decoration off the kitchen table. "Pain in my ass," she muttered. Shaking her head, she turned her attention once more to the two graduates. "Anyway, it won't be for long. Just don't let them burn the house down and life will be great."

Gohan's back was turned to the adults, and they never saw the eye roll. "Sure thing," he told the heiress, his voice far more enthusiastic than he truly felt. "We'll get right on that."

As the two left the room, Videl could not help but giggle at her intended. "Don't worry," she told her love, "we'll be married by the end of the summer, we'll be living on our own, and then you don't have to be on…what was it called? Oh, yeah. 'Brat duty'. You won't have to do that anymore."

"Until the next time we visit," Gohan responded, though there was a hint of a smile on his face. "Come on, let's go keep this place standing."

"Oh, I don't know," Videl laughed. "Could make for a hell of a story. Imagine the headlines: Capsule Corp Burned to Ground! Eight Year Olds Insist 'He Started It'!"

"Oh, lord, don't even joke about that!" Gohan groaned. "If those idiots hear you, they might actually do it!"

Still giggling, Videl wrapped her arm around Gohan's and leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked. "You know, for someone who's so concerned about his house being burned down by all powerful children, you seem to be taking your sweet time in getting there."

"We're taking the scenic route," the demi-Saiyan replied. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "Even I can be mildly irresponsible from time to time."

"Ooh, you rebel you," Videl teased. "Taking an extra two minutes to get to work? Honestly, Gohan, you might as well resign yourself to a life of crime right now!"

The young couple stopped walking and enjoyed a laugh. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was still quite nice. They were standing in the indoor garden, and they savored the moment together. Such moments were few and far between for them. Turning to his future bride, Gohan brushed his fingers through her bangs. "You're so beautiful," he softly told her.

A bright smile lit up the small fighter's face. "You're just saying that," she coyly responded, her cheeks blushing as she turned away slightly.

"How could I?" Gohan gently teased. "You know I'm a terrible liar, and I take everything literally. If I'm not wildly sputtering, you know I'm telling the truth. Ergo, you are so beautiful." Using just his index finger, he guided her face back toward his. "And I am so lucky to be getting to spend the rest of my life with you."

Videl beamed up at her love. "It still seems a little bit like a dream, doesn't it?" she asked him. "I mean, can you believe that we're getting married in three months?"

"Oh, the hell you are!"

Both teenagers whipped around to find a very irate Saiyan behind them. "Oh, hey there, Vegeta!" Gohan nervously greeted as he scratched the back of his head. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," the prince snidely bit out. "And if you two morons think that you are getting married in three months, you are very sorely mistaken."

The blush in Videl's cheeks changed from one of bashfulness to one of anger. "Who do you think you are?" the petite girl demanded. "Who do you think you are telling us that we can't get married?"

With a roll of his eyes, Vegeta crossed his arms and approached the young couple. "And if you had actually listened to the words coming out of my mouth, girl, you would know that I was not forbidding you from going through with the ceremony. I am forbidding you from doing it three months from now."

Wile Videl was still quite indignant about being bossed around over such a thing, Gohan eyed the prince and calmly asked, "Why?"

"Because, you oblivious children, in three months time the woman is going to be on the verge of giving birth," Vegeta pointed out as though it was the most obvious thing he had ever heard. "Even if you idiotically choose to ignore the possibility of her having the child early, you are still dealing with a very heavily pregnant female, one that _I_ will have the grave misfortune of dealing with for the upcoming months. She will be swollen. She will be bitchy. She will be having mood swings, the likes of which neither of you have ever seen before. And above all else, she will be mad as hell that she will be showing up in pictures looking like a beached whale. And if you two imbeciles honestly believe that you could have even a remotely peaceful day with her under those circumstances, I assure you, you are sorely mistaken."

The two teenagers exchanged a glance. It had escaped them both that Bulma would be pregnant during the wedding, let alone that she would be very near her due date in three months time. It really would be unfair of them to plan their wedding at the same time, particularly considering how much she had done for them over the past few months. "We see your point," Gohan agreed. "Thank you for bringing it to our attention."

Nervously, Videl looked at her feet. "Yes, thank you," she told him. With a shy look on her face, she looked the prince in the eye. "It's sweet to see how much you care for your wife's wellbeing."

Vegeta let out an indignant snort. "This is not an act of concern for her," he bluntly told the couple. "This is a move of survival for me. And if you let her know I discussed this with you, you will be signing your death warrant."

While Videl frowned, Gohan could not help but chuckle. Bulma's mood swings were already pretty damned impressive, and given three more months of hormones and swelling, the heiress could very easily become the most terrifying force in the universe. "Point well taken," the boy laughed. "So, what do you propose we do to evade the wrath of the she-beast?"

"Gohan!" Videl gasped, clearly shocked by her fiancé's phrasing.

Across from them, Vegeta smirked. It would appear that the boy had been listening to him more than originally suspected, and the prince found that highly amusing. "If you wish to minimize your risk of annihilation," he informed them, "then your options are to either wait a full year or do it in the next week." When the expressions on the other two clearly asked 'Why?', the prince went on. "At the stage she is currently in, she would be tolerable, but trust me when I tell you there is little time left in it. If you take too long, you would need to wait a full year to give her a chance to, as she would say, lose the baby weight." Turning away to leave, he casually added, "Besides, do you really want a screaming infant to be there?"

As he disappeared, the young couple exchanged a glance. "Well?" Videl quietly asked. "Do you think he's right?"

"He usually is," Gohan admitted. "At least, as far as Bulma and her moods are concerned he is."

With a small nod, Videl grabbed Gohan's hand. "So, since we don't want to do that to poor Bulma," she softly began, "which do you think we should do? A week or a year?"

Nervously, Gohan bit his lip. It was a lot to consider and no time to consider it in.

/

"Are you two insane?" Bulma roared, hearing the news. "Are you abso-freaking-lutely insane?"

Both Gohan and Videl blushed and looked away. "Well, we were talking about it," Gohan explained, "and while we were thinking about getting married at the end of the summer, we realized that it wouldn't be fair to you if we did."

"Not fair?" Bulma asked, her voice suddenly losing its edge. "Not fair how?"

"Well, the baby's due around then," Gohan calmly explained, "and you've just been so good to me and Goten that it would be downright mean of us to plan such a huge, stressful event when you've got your own special day right around the corner. We were worried that it might be too much to ask of you, so we decided to move up the date. This way, you can enjoy it more."

Cautiously, the heiress studied the two before her. Before her glare Gohan and Videl began to fidget slightly. It was extremely unnerving, the way she was studying them, and they were becoming extremely self conscious under her gaze. They had either said something wonderfully good or horribly wrong, and at that moment, they were not sure which they had done.

Without warning, the heiress jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around the pair. "Oh, you two are wonderful!" she gushed, holding them dearly. "This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me! I hadn't even considered that, and here you two are, going out of your way to think about my wellbeing? Oh, you are just the greatest things ever!"

Gohan and Videl, their chins well over Bulma's shoulders, exchanged a look. Neither of them were particularly keen on getting praise for an idea that was not theirs, but Vegeta's death threat still rang in their ears. "Um, thanks," Gohan nervously said, offering his guardian a pat on the back, "but it's nothing, really."

"No, it's everything!" Bulma cried with joy. "I always knew you two were sweet, but this is beyond great!" Pulling back, she wiped away tears of joy from her eyes. "Okay, that's enough about me. Let's talk about you two. After all, we've got one week to plan a wedding!"

"To plan a _what?_" a voice behind them bellowed.

Videl jumped and nervously turned around. "Oh, um, hi Daddy…"


	16. Chapter 16

Goten paced back and forth and nervously rubbed his hands together. He was going to be in so much trouble that even his big brother was probably going to kill him. And for once, it was not some big scheme from Trunks that was going to get him hammered. It was his own fault, and he was going to have to admit to that. Of course, he hoped that he would not have to come clean for forty or fifty years. Somehow, though, he had a sinking feeling that everyone was going to find out long before then.

Trunks walked in to the room and took one look at his best friend before groaning out, "What did you do?"

"What?" Goten snapped back, a nervous smile on his face. "Nothing! I didn't do nothing!"

A wicked smile appeared on the young prince. "Not doing nothing means that the thing you didn't do was nothing, so you _did_ do something!"

Goten gulped and took a step back. "No I didn't!"

"Geez, you're as bad at lying as Gohan is," Trunks whined. "Look, I've known you your entire stupid life. I know when you've done something stupid. So how about we just skip the whole 'I didn't do it' part and you just tell me what it is."

The younger boy whimpered slightly. "Trunks…"

"I can't help you make it better if I don't know what it is."

Lowering his head in shame, Goten shoved his hands in his pockets and quietly admitted, "I can't find it."

Trunks frowned. "You can't find what?"

"The thing," Goten muttered, still looking at the floor. "You know, the one Gohan said I absolutely positively wasn't allowed to lose."

Trunks' eyes were enormous in an instant. "Oh crap, you lost the _rings?_"

"I know!" Goten whined. "All I had to do was hold on to one stupid thing, and I lost it! Gohan's going to kill me!"

While normally Trunks would have been inclined to point out that Gohan rarely, if ever, got that mad at them, for once he was not so sure. Gohan might actually lose it if he found out. "Okay, okay, let's not panic," he quickly answered. "First things first: how much time do we have before the wedding starts?"

Again, Goten whimpered. "I dunno, fifteen minutes?"

Trunks pinched the bridge of his nose and put one hand on his hip, a stance he had often seen his father in when stressed out and trying to keep calm. "Where were you when you saw it last?"

Goten squirmed again. "Um, I was in there," he mumbled, pointing to the bathroom door.

The young prince felt his heart jump to the throat. "What the hell did you take them in _there_ for?" he demanded.

"It was in my pocket!" Goten shouted back. "Gohan told me not to lose it, and the only place I thought I could keep it without losing it was in my pocket!"

Trunks smacked himself in the forehead. "Why didn't you take them out of your pocket before you went to the bathroom?"

"Because I didn't think about it!" Goten shouted back. "Trunks, the rings are gone, and you need rings to get married, and Gohan's supposed to get married to Videl soon, and there are no rings, and that means they can't get married, and that means Gohan and Videl are going to _kill_ me!"

"Okay, don't panic, don't panic!" Trunks quickly responded, though more for his own benefit than for that of his friend. "We can think of something. We've still got…ten minutes before the wedding. I can think of something in ten minutes."

Both boys jumped in surprise, though, when there was an unexpected knock on the door. "Boys?" Bulma called out, slowly entering the room. "It's time to get in your positions."

Goten gulped and shot his best friend a pleading look. When they were in trouble Trunks was always the one to come to the rescue, and that was a skill Goten was banking on at that moment. If anyone was going to keep Gohan from killing him, it was going to be Trunks.

The little prince did not disappoint. "Yeah, we'll be down in a sec, Mom," he smoothly told his mother. "We'll meet you down there."

"Well, keep it quick," the blue haired beauty ordered. "The last thing we need right now is more stress on them. Lord knows planning this wedding in six days wasn't easy on them."

"Absolutely," Trunks returned. "We'll be down in two minutes, tops." He watched calmly as his mother returned from whence she came, and as soon as he was certain the door was closed, turned and grabbed Goten by the shoulders. "Okay, here's what we're going to do. You are going to start walking down those stairs _very, very slowly_. As you do that, I'm going to raid Mom's jewelry box and see if I can snag something that we can use for right now. She's got more jewelry than a queen, I should be able to find _something_. I'll run what I get to you, you'll put it on the pillow, and we'll fake our way through this."

"But won't Gohan know that these aren't the same rings?" the dark haired boy asked.

Trunks shook his head. "It'll be okay," he assured. "After they're married, we'll tell them the truth, then I'll offer to buy them replacements."

Goten frowned. "Trunks, you shouldn't have to buy them new rings because I lost them. I can buy them. How much can a ring cost?"

"Mom's cost four thousand dollars."

After a mild bout of shock, Goten stammered out, "Why do they cost that much?"

"Because people are stupid," Trunks responded with a roll of his eyes. "And don't worry about it, I'll make sure that it's covered. Now go walk, and go slow."

"Right." Taking a breath to steady his nerves, Goten began to move as slowly as he could. Pull the arm up slowly, lift the heel of the foot, barely shift body weight on the supporting leg, drag on a deep breath in…

"Faster than that!" Trunks snapped, giving his best friend a shove. "You have to actually walk, just take your time. Don't look like you're trying to mime an action scene!"

Goten jumped slightly. "Oops. Sorry."

As Goten made his way down toward his spot, Trunks jumped out of the hotel window and made a break for his house. If he really pushed it, he should have enough time to make it home, raid his mother's jewelry collection, and get back to the hotel before Gohan noticed that there were no rings on Goten's pillow. It would be tight, but he was fairly certain that he could make it.

Meanwhile, Goten was trying to take the scenic route down to the hall when Krillen caught up with him. "There you are!" the former monk greeted. "Come on, kid, we need to get you downstairs on the double. Bulma's starting to get that vein that shows up when she's really stressed out, and I would like to keep that from exploding." He grabbed Goten's hand and began to pull the child down the hall. "You've got the rings, right?"

"I, um, put them in my pocket," the child answered. He did not care for lying, but he also did not feel compelled to inform the man of the rest of the story. After all, Trunks had a plan, and with any luck, no one else would ever know.

Krillen let out a relieved sigh. "Fantastic! That takes a load off my mind." As he continued to pull the boy behind him, he began to chuckle. "I've got to be honest, Goten, I thought Bulma was nuts when she let you be in charge of those. Looks like I'm wrong, huh?"

Goten let out a nervous little laugh as he allowed himself to be hauled down the hallway. If Trunks did not get back soon, things were going to get bad.

/

"Oh, you look so beautiful!" Bulma gushed, stepping back to admire the bride.

Videl felt the blood rushing to her cheeks as she began to blush. "Thank you," she modestly answered. "And thank you so much for pulling all this together so fast. I can't believe you pulled together a full wedding in such a short amount of time."

With a dismissive wave, Bulma laughed. "Honey, when you look at all the crap I have managed to reign in over the course of my life, pulling this off was _nothing_. Besides, it's not like I don't have a lot of pull. And don't worry, I didn't use your name or your father's name for anything, so you shouldn't have to worry to much about the paparazzi too much."

"You're amazing," Videl praised.

"Yes I am."

As the ladies shared a laugh, a gentle knock sounded at the door. "Is my baby girl ready for me to come in?" Hercule asked, cracking the door open and peeking into the room.

"Come on in," Bulma invited, opening the door the rest of the way. As Hercule came in, Bulma slid out with a smile. "I've got to go make sure the boys are ready." And with that, the heiress excused herself, giving father and daughter a moment alone. Taking a calming breath, the pregnant woman headed down the hallway where the others were to be waiting.

"Okay," she sighed with a grin, "is everyone here?"

Krillen, though, shook his head. "Marron's on her way down, and Trunks isn't here," he informed the heiress.

"_What?_" Bulma hissed. "Where the hell is he?"

Swallowing nervously, Krillen and Goten exchanged a look. While the party line was that Trunks was in the bathroom, both could sense easily that the boy was not in the building at all. However, with Bulma already stressed out and the wedding slated to start at any moment, it was debatable whether telling her or not was the best solution.

"He's in the bathroom!" Goten blurted.

Krillen frowned at the little boy, but he could not fault him. He was not entirely sure what was going on, but he had been chasing after Trunks and Goten all their lives and knew the difference between the look that said 'my friend did something stupid' and the look that said 'I did something stupid and my friend is covering my ass'. At that moment, it was clear to the short man that Goten had screwed up and Trunks was making everything as right as he could. Though Krillen was surprised that Bulma did not recognize it, he was not going to push it. The heiress looked like she might have a conniption if she knew something was wrong. "Yeah," he finally agreed. "He'll be down in a minute." It was a flat out lie, but if he could get things figured out in the next five minutes without sending Bulma into premature labor, life would be good.

Though she was still slightly upset, Bulma went to check on the rest of the arrangements. As she disappeared, Krillen knelt down and looked Goten in the eye. "Look," he gently told the child, "I know you know that Trunks isn't in the bathroom, and I'm willing to be that you know where he is."

Nervously, Goten looked at the floor. He could not offer an answer.

"So," Krillen went on, keeping his voice calm the entire time, "I'm guessing that he's off doing something to help you."

Goten's head shot up, and his eyes were enormous. "How do you know?" he whispered.

The former monk smiled. "Goten, if something's wrong, you should tell me about it so I can help you, too."

"You won't get mad?" Goten nervously asked.

"I won't get mad," Krillen promised.

The child eyed the man warily. "Cross your heart, hope to die, thousand needles in your eye?"

Chuckling, Krillen used his index finger to trace an X over his heart. "Abso-tively, poso-lutely."

Goten gave a small nod, accepting the oath before letting out a long sigh. "I flushed the rings," he quietly admitted.

Krillen cringed violently and jerked back at the words. "Oh lord, we don't have _rings?_" he whimpered. "Goten, why didn't you tell anyone before now?"

"I did tell someone!" the little boy protested. "I told Trunks! That's why he's gone, to get some rings from home!"

"That's where he was," Krillen muttered, looking away for a moment. Trying to keep himself calm, and trying very hard to not imagine what would happen to them all if no rings were found, the former monk closed his eyes and felt out where, exactly, the young prince was. Judging by the energy signal, Trunks had just gotten to Capsule Corp. Opening his eyes, Krillen nervously eyed the clock. Showtime was only five minutes away, and the odds of Trunks being able to find replacements and get back before someone else noticed were not good…

All dolled up in her flower girl dress, Marron entered the area. "Hey, Goten," she gently said, reaching in to her basket of flower petals, "I think you dropped these."

Both Goten and Krillen stared at the golden rings in the young blonde's hand. "Where did you get those?" Goten cried.

"They were on the bathroom floor," she answered, handing them over.

"You mean I _didn't _flush them?" he gawked. Horrified, he turned to Krillen and grabbed him by the front of his suit. "We have to get Trunks back here!"

With a nod, Krillen responded, "Yeah, I should get right on…oh, wait, Vegeta's on it." The tiny man wiped the nervous sweat off his brow as he let out a sigh of relief, sensing clearly as the senior prince easily caught up with his son. "Okay, we're good! He'll grab him, bring him back, everything's going to be great!" He reached for the small satin pillow on the table beside them and took the rings from Goten. "Tell you what," he told the children, pulling a string loose from the pillow seam, "I'll tie the rings onto the pillow, and that way we don't have to worry about them falling off again."

"Thank you!" Goten cheered. "Now Big Brother doesn't have to kill me!"

"Why was I going to have to kill you?" a stern voice asked.

Goten gulped. He had not heard or sensed his older brother entering. If he had, he would not have been so quick to talk.

As the younger brother cringed, the older brother came around and knelt down. "Goten," he firmly asked, "why did you think I was going to have to kill you?"

"He thought he lost the rings, but he didn't," Marron casually answered, adjusting the buckle on her white shoes. "They're on the pillow."

Checking to make sure that the rings were, in fact, where they should be, the eighteen year old let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, Goten, don't scare me like that!" he chuckled. He gave his brother a hug and stood up, straightening out his clothes on the way.

The groom-to-be began chatting with his old friend, Goten walked over to Marron. "Thanks," he sincerely whispered.

"No problem," the girl responded with a smile. "You're my friend!"

"And you're mine!" Goten gave his blonde friend a firm hug and spun her around once.

"Whoa!" Marron giggled. "Goten, put me down!"

"Yeah, put her down," Trunks gasped, jogging in to the room. Still gasping for breath, and making sure Gohan's back was turned, he extended his hand toward his best friend. "Here you go."

Goten looked at the two rings and smiled. "Actually, Marron found the real ones, so we're okay. But thank you!"

Trunks glared at the younger boy dangerously. "Are you kidding me?" he panted. "I just blitzed home, got the rings, and got kidnapped back by my own father who, at this exact moment in time, is stalling to keep my mother from coming back here, and that was all for _nothing?_"

While Goten apologized and Trunks grumbled, Gohan listened intently. His heart had skipped a beat when Marron had told him that the rings were lost. It was not because he thought that somehow their marriage would not count if it lacked the rings, but where one of them had come from. The ring he had for Videl's hand was the one his mother had worn and loved. Chi-Chi had said often that she had hoped to someday have a daughter to give the jewel to, and that day her dream was coming true. If Goten had actually lost the ring, truly lost it, Gohan honestly could not say how he would have reacted. Probably not well.

Bulma chose that moment to come around the corner. "Okay, I think we're all ready to go!" she eagerly told the teenager. "You ready to do this?"

"Yeah," Gohan replied, smiling down at his guardian.

A single tear of joy rolled down Bulma's cheek. "Oh, I can't believe it's your wedding day already! It seems like just the other day you were just that little boy who was afraid of the waves at the beach…"

"Woman, back the hell off!"

Bulma turned and glared at her entering husband. "This is a tender moment, you jackass!" she yelled at him.

The Saiyan prince simply rolled his eyes and grabbed his wife by the arm. "Great. Fantastic. Whatever. Go sit the hell down so they can get this damn thing done and over with!"

Gohan watched the couple leave with a smile on his face. There was no denying that they were eccentric, and sometimes downright frightening with one another, but there was something that seemed so right about their relationship. And while his relationship with Videl was not nearly so odd, Gohan had faith that they would be just as close with one another.

Soon enough, the music was playing and Gohan was standing in the front of the small hotel hall. Standing to his left was Krillen, and in front of him stood Goten and Trunks. From the corner of his eye, Gohan looked down to make absolutely certain that the rings were on the pillow.

A content sight escaped him as Gohan watched his bride come around the corner. Videl was beautiful, in every sense of the term. Physically an angel, she was also strong, kind, and his match in every way. She was his saving grace, his other half, his partner for life.

And he was never going to let her go.


	17. Chapter 17

Gohan sighed as he closed the apartment door behind him. "Hey, honey," he greeted, his exhaustion evident. "I'm home."

"Yes, I did manage to figure that one out all on my own," his wife teased. "So, how was it?"

Cringing, Gohan took off his coat. "It was brutal," he honestly answered. "It was, hands down, the worst interview I have ever had in my entire life. There's no way in hell I got that job." With a resigned sigh, he sat down on the couch and rested his elbows on his knees. "I'll start looking for another position right after dinner."

Videl frowned. "It couldn't have been that bad, could it?"

"Worse," her husband groaned. "So many of the questions were so out of the blue that there was no way I could have been ready for them, and every answer I gave…" He shuddered slightly as he recalled his afternoon. "The less said, the better."

"Oh," the girl softly said, taking a seat beside her husband. "Well, if you don't get it, you don't get it. We'll just get you another interview as soon as we can, and until you get a secure job, we'll manage to make things work."

While he knew his wife was just trying to be reassuring, her comfort actually made him feel worse. He had pressed so hard for them to marry as soon as possible, convinced that the strength of their love could conquer any trouble. But there were a lot of aspects of being married that neither of them had considered before walking down the aisle, and a realistic, livable budget was one of them. Gohan's internship was ending in a week, and Videl's work with the police force was largely volunteer, and therefore not profitable. Combining their low incomes with a flurry of unforeseen bills had left both of them questioning if they would be forced to swallow their pride and ask for financial assistance. _Everything_ cost too much. A Saiyan food budget they had planned on. How much rent, fuel, utilities, insurance, and basic maintenance cost they had not.

"I'll find something," he softly promised his wife.

Videl gave him a tender kiss on the cheek. "I know you will," she sincerely told him, caressing his face. "And you never know. Even though you might have felt bad about the interview, that doesn't necessarily mean that you won't get the job."

"You weren't there," the boy grimly replied.

But Videl simply rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on," she gently teased. "Bulma could not have been _that_ bad."

"Yes, she was!" Gohan insisted, ignoring the phone as it began to ring and his wife as she picked it up. "She was horrible, she was miserable, she…"

"Went into labor ten minutes ago," his wife interrupted. "That was her mother. Vegeta took her to the hospital, the boys are staying behind."

Quickly, Gohan's eyes went out of focus as he confirmed where everyone was. There was Vegeta, definitely in the area of the hospital and right next to a terrifyingly erratic and powerful Bulma, and the boys were…moving.

"Oh crap," he muttered as he got to his feet.

Videl frowned at her husband. "You know, I've heard a lot of reactions to hearing about someone else's wife in labor, but I think 'oh crap' might be a new one."

"What?" Gohan was already putting on his shoes at the door as his wife spoke. "No! That's not what I meant! It's just that Tweedle-dumb and Tweedle-dumber are making a break for the hospital."

Videl's eyes shot wide. "They're _what_?" she screeched. "Oh crap!"

"See?" he hollered back. "I've got to stop them!"

His wife nodded, tearing the door opened and clearing the way. "Go, go, go! I'll take the car and meet you there!"

Unfortunately, the hospital was closer to Capsule Corp than it was to Gohan's apartment, and the two boys had a head start. The eighteen year old never stood a chance at stopping the children before they got to the building, but he did manage to catch them at the front door. "Oh no you don't!" he grunted, barely managing to grapple and stop the duo.

"Let me go!" Trunks roared, attempting to drive an elbow into Gohan's midsection. "Mom needs help!"

"Your mom's getting help," Gohan wheezed, tucking the purple haired boy like a football. "You barging in there is going to make them _stop_ helping _her_ so they can _start_ helping _you_!"

That slowed down the little prince. "Are you sure?" demanded the boy. "Are you totally sure that she's going to be okay?"

"Totally and completely," Gohan assured. "Listen, there are doctors and nurses in there, and that's what your mom needs right now. They're going to help her get through this."

"But I think she's really hurt!" Goten cried. "She was screaming and using all of the words I'm not supposed to know about!"

Maintaining a firm grip on both children, Gohan rolled his eyes. "That's just what happens when a woman has a baby. In fact, I think it might be a rule."

Still agitated, Trunks quirked a brow at the teenager. "Is there a rule about the words that came out of Dad's mouth?"

"Yes," Gohan firmly stated. "The rule is 'let Vegeta say whatever he wants to, because he will do it anyway and at least this way you can avoid getting hit'. But you both already knew that rule, didn't you?"

"Yeah," the boys agreed. But Trunks still did not look convinced that the situation was controlled. "Gohan, I really do think something's wrong."

Knowing full well that he was going to regret the words when they left his mouth, Gohan asked the boys, "Do you know how a mommy gets a baby?"

Trunks scowled. "I know enough to know that Mom's story about some dumbass white bird showing up and leaving the kid at the front door is a crock. But you can't seriously tell me that _this_ is what is actually supposed to happen!"

"Yeah!" Goten agreed quickly.

Gohan groaned. "Is there any way I can get you guys to understand that this _is_ what is supposed to happen?" he pleaded. "Because I swear, it is."

"Prove it!" Trunks challenged. "Tell me how you know that my mom is supposed to be in that much pain!"

Closing his eyes, Gohan took a deep breath. "Okay," he slowly began, "you know how a few months ago we talked about how a baby grows and lives inside of a mommy, and that's why Bulma's body was changing? To make room for the baby?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you think it's easy to get that baby _out_?"

Four eyes bulged out at the words. "The baby has to come _out?_" Goten squawked.

Trunks smacked his best friend in the back of the head. "Of course it does, you dummy!" he shouted. "How do you think women get babies in strollers if they never come out?" With a glare, he turned his focus to Gohan. "What I want to know is _how_ that baby is coming out of my mom!"

"Oh no!" Gohan quickly said with a nervous chuckle. "You can get the details from your parents in a couple years. All I'm going to tell you is that it's really uncomfortable, but that it is totally natural and that everything is going to be okay. Mommies have been doing this since forever. This is just how it's done."

"But…"

"Trunks, I'm really not telling you anything else," Gohan interrupted. "Now come on, how about I get both of you guys back home?"

"Can't we stay?" Goten softly pleaded. "We promise we won't get in any trouble! We just want to be here to see the baby."

The teenager paused for a moment before answering. "There isn't going to be anything for you guys to do here but wait," he told them. "You're going to get pretty bored."

Trunks frowned. "Why? How long does it take to have a baby?"

"Well, when Goten was born, it took seventeen hours."

Again, both little boys gawked at the information. "_Seventeen hours?_" Trunks shouted. "What the hell is going on in there that takes _seventeen hours_?"

"Torture your father with that question," Gohan quickly said. "Now why don't I get the two of you back to Capsule Corp?"

Goten looked between his big brother and his best friend, a move he had done so many times in his short life that he had long since lost count. Trunks was going to want to stay behind, Gohan wanted them to go back, and it was impossible to listen to both of them. Usually he had a favorite side, and most of the time Trunks was on it, but he found himself not sure which one he wanted to win that day. He still wanted to stay, and he wanted to help his clearly stressed out best friend, but he really did not want to wait for seventeen hours and have nothing to do. So, in a common move of self-preservation, he quietly took a step back and let the other two fight it out.

"As long as my mom is in there, I'm staying," the little prince firmly stated.

Gohan put the boy down, stood up, and put his hands on his hips. "Trunks, I already told you, you're only going to get bored."

"I don't care!" the child fought back. "The rest of my family is here, so I'm staying!"

"Your grandparents aren't," Gohan pointed out, "and they're probably worried sick about you."

Trunks let out a little snort. "They probably haven't even figured out that we're gone yet," he shot back. "Come on, Gohan, let me stay here, at least for a little bit. If you're so sure I'm gonna get bored, then why don't you hang out with me so you can drag me home then?"

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Gohan considered the offer. "Fine," he eventually sighed. "But you two need to be in my direct line of sight at all times. Am I clear?"

"What does line of sight mean?" Goten asked.

"It means he has to be able to see us," Trunks quickly explained, turning around and walking for the automatic hospital doors. "Now come on, I want to get inside!"

Groaning, Gohan followed close as his heels. He had a bad, bad feeling about it.

/

"Hey, Trunks?"

The little prince blinked his eyes a few times, trying to force himself to focus. It was almost midnight, and the simple act of staying awake was proving difficult for the child. "Yeah, Goten?"

His best friend fidgeted nervously on the bench. "Was Gohan telling the truth when he said that all mommies go through this when they have a baby?"

"Probably," Trunks yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Your brother's good at a lot of things, but lying ain't one of them."

"So, my mommy went through this when she had me, right?" the younger boy softly asked.

Trunks fought to suppress the groan. It had not happened in a while, but when Goten used phrases like that, they usually led to crying and breakdowns. Trunks was already exhausted, and he was stressed out enough about his own mother. He sincerely did not want to have to put up with Goten's issues that evening. "Look, Goten," he answered, his voice taking on a mild whine, "yeah, she probably did, but your mom loved you so frickin' much that she was willing to go through this just to get you. And then, even _after_ all of that, she _still_ wanted to play with you. So can you just be happy that she loved you and let me sleep?"

Goten sat up a little more, startled by his friend's outburst. "Gee, Trunks, I'm sorry…"

"No, no, no," the purple haired boy muttered. "You did nothing wrong, I did nothing wrong, no one apologizes. Your mom loved you, my mom is having a baby, and I'm really, really tired. So can we please, please not do a serious talk until either I get some sleep or get as addicted to caffeine as the rest of my family is?"

Giggling, Goten nodded and lay down on the bench. "You're funny when you're cranky!"

"Whoopdee-doo," Trunks grumbled. "Glad to hear it. I'm going to sleep."

/

"Here," Videl softly said, handing her husband a Styrofoam cup of coffee. "You look like you could really use this."

Her husband offered her an exhausted smile. "You must be psychic," he chuckled as he accepted her offer.

"Clearly," she teased. She glanced over at the padded bench across from them and smiled. "You know, when they're both asleep, they really don't seem so bad."

"Yes," Gohan agreed, taking a sip. "Too bad they have to wake up in a few hours."

Videl took a drink from her own artificial cup, pretending that the brew was not leaving a plastic aftertaste in her mouth. "Have you gotten any word yet?"

But Gohan shook his head. "No, but I can't say I'm all that surprised. Between Bulma's need for privacy and Vegeta's, well, Vegeta-ness, I'm impressed even the doctors can get in and out of that room. There's no way in hell anyone else is getting in."

"That sounds right," the fighter giggled. Stretching out, she checked her watch. "Seven and a half hours so far. I don't suppose you have any idea how long it took when she had Trunks?"

"I don't even think her doctors know that one," Gohan chuckled. "She kept that one ridiculously private, so I can't answer any questions you have."

Videl shrugged and adjusted in her seat. "I didn't really figure you would know anyway," she honestly told him. "No offense, it's just one of those things that women usually talk about with other women, not with their teenaged godsons."

Gohan laughed. "You know, I really wonder how Trunks is going to handle having a baby in the house. For that matter, I wonder how Goten's going to handle it."

"I foresee a day and a half of loving it, followed by two months of hating it, and ending with indifference," his wife projected. "Now, having been an only child my whole life, this is just a shot in the dark." They were quiet for a little while, steadily pouring the caffeine into their systems until Videl spoke once more. "When do you want to have one?"

Scalding hot coffee shot out from Gohan's nostrils. "What?" he sputtered.

"When do you want to start having kids?" his wife asked again. "I'm not saying we need to have them _now_, or even soon. I just think it would be good for us to talk about it. You know, get a rough plan going."

Gohan stared at his wife, completely at a loss on how to answer her question. While the thought of having a child was one that certainly made him happy, there was no way they could afford the expense of a child, and probably would not be able to for quite some time. In fact, he was holding serious doubts that they would even be able to pay off their bills for the month for just the two of them. "I, uh, well…the thing of it is…"

Suddenly his phone beeped, startling the young newlyweds. "What the…" Gohan flipped it open and smirked. "You know how some people send out those fancy birth announcements with the card and the picture in a hand addressed envelope?"

"Yeah?"

"Bulma apparently sends out a text." He closed the phone and tucked it back into his pocket. "Come on, let's go wake up the little hell raisers so they can meet the newest member of the family."

Gohan got Trunks up fairly well, but Goten was completely out and had to be carried in to Bulma's room. "Hey," the teenager gently called, pushing the door open. "Ready for guests?"

"I'm tired, I'm in pain, my hair and make-up are a wreck, and I've been stared at intimately by fifteen different people tonight," the heiress huffed.

From her side, Vegeta added, "In other words, same as always."

"Hey!"

Gohan laughed as he and Videl brought the children in to the room. "Go say hi to your new sibling."

"Sister," Bulma added, giving her son a tired smile. "Trunks, come on over and meet your sister, Bra."

Trunks froze mid-step. "You named my baby sister after a piece of clothing I don't even want to look at?" he questioned. Quirking an eyebrow at his father, he asked, "How the hell did that happen?"

Vegeta scowled. "I lost the coin toss."

"Yes you did," Bulma smugly said. "And it's a beautiful name. You two just don't have any taste."

"It's not us," Trunks and Vegeta said in unison.

From Gohan's arms, Goten stirred awake at the sound of Bulma's response to that. "What's goin' on?" he groggily asked.

"Mom gave the baby a stupid name," Trunks informed his best friend. "Now let's look at her!" The nine year old scurried up on top of his mother's hospital bed and glanced down at the swaddled bundle of pink in his mother's arms.

Goten, still in his brother's arms, looked down at the little girl in the pink. "Whoa, she's real small," he softly said. "Is she supposed to be that small?"

"Yep," Gohan told his brother. "In fact, that's how big you were the day Mom brought you home for the first time."

"Wow…"

Up on the bed, Trunks ran a finger along Bra's cheek. "Hey," he softly said to her. "I'm Trunks. I'm your big brother. And these guys are Gohan and Goten. They're kinda like your big brothers, too. So if anyone ever gives you a hard time or anything, and it's not Mom or Dad, you come tell us and we'll take care of them."

"Yeah," Goten added. "We'll protect you!"

"Yeah." Trunks looked up at his parents and gave them a tired smile, then turned to Gohan, Goten and Videl. "Our family's a little crazy…okay, really frickin' crazy, but you'll love it here. We're nuts, but we're fun."

Gently leaving Gohan's arms, Goten joined Trunks on the bed and gave Bra a big smile. "Yeah. Welcome to our family!"


	18. Chapter 18

Videl groaned as she took her shoes off her feet. "In case you were wondering, criminals suck."

Gohan slid a bookmark in his textbook as he got up to greet his wife. "Hey, sweetie. Rough day? I didn't hear any urgent calls."

The petite fighter huffed her way out of her coat and paid it no mind as it fell to the floor. "You want to know how my day went?" she asked. "Without anything _urgent_ out there, I got stuck inside where I got to spent some _glorious_ quality time with mindless criminals. No evil geniuses, no intelligent people who made a wrong turn, no super villains or heavily armed criminals. No, it was idiot day down at the station."

Wincing slightly, Gohan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her to the couch. "That bad?"

"Are you kidding me?" Videl snapped. "I brought in one guy on a drug charge, with the stuff in his pants, and his defense is that they weren't his pants. They gave him a _thorough_ search, found more, and his defense, I kid you not, was that it was _not his ass_."

Gohan snorted, trying to keep his laughter well contained. "Really?"

Videl flopped down on the couch, staring at the ceiling. "When did humanity get this _stupid_?"

"You didn't know this about them before?" her husband teased.

"Not really!" his wife insisted. "I usually deal with people shooting at me. I've got bigger things to worry about than how stupid they are! I beat the crap out of them, put them in cuffs, then someone _else_ gets to deal with this crap!"

Gohan placed a gentle kiss in the top of his wife's head. "There, there, honey. It's all over for now."

Videl leaned up and nuzzled into her husband's chest. "It was such a bad day."

"I know," the boy assured. "I know."

Looking up into his eyes, Videl leaned in and caught his lips in a passionate kiss. It was a rare moment the two of them were awake, home, and energized that time. Between both being full time students and holding down full time work, it seemed like there was never any time for the two of them any longer. Opportunities to be together were cherished.

Gohan ran a hand up the outside of her arm, making his way to the collar of her shirt. With a hungry growl, Videl pressed herself up against her husband's chest. They were stressed. They were overworked. They had a thousand things to deal with. They had both had long, hard days. They desperately needed the release.

Videl ripped Gohan's button up shirt open as quickly as she could, barely mindful enough to keep from tearing the buttons off. As she took care of that, she felt her husband's strong hands reaching down to her hips, massaging her gently. The two began to melt into one, bit by bit having clothing fall by the wayside as they gave way to their lust. It was intense and amazing and wonderful.

Or at least, it was until Gohan quickly pulled back with a growl. Frustrated by the sudden loss of heat and sensation, Videl propped herself up on her elbows and yelled, "What the hell?"

"Get dressed," the eighteen year old grumbled.

"Why?"

A loud knock sounded at the door as Gohan pulled his pants back on. "Because we've got company."

The girl's eyes bugged out as she wrapped the couch throw over her shoulders. "Who the hell…"

"Gohan!" a voice whined from the other side. "Open up! I know you're there!"

Videl rolled her eyes as she grabbed her clothing with one hand as she kept the wrap around her with the other. "One of these days," she bit out, "you have got to teach me how to do that."

"Gohan!"

Nodding, Gohan watched his wife disappear into their bedroom. He had gotten his shirt back on in the past few seconds, but out of frustration at the situation, he had not bothered to button it before he opened the door. "Is there a reason you two have decided to randomly show up at my apartment in the middle of the night?"

Trunks crossed his arms and huffed. "Oh, come on. It's not the middle of the night. It's not even midnight."

"Yeah!" Goten agreed.

Gohan groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You guys know what I mean," he tiredly responded. "It's way past your bedtimes, and you didn't call or anything. And since you don't have spiking energy levels, I'm going to guess that we are not under attack. Now, why are the two of you here?"

Goten floated up to Gohan and grabbed his brother by the collar. "It won't stop!" he whined.

"What won't stop?" Gohan asked, even more confused than before.

Trunks walked all the way in without bothering to wait for an invitation and flopped down on the couch, dramatically draping an arm over her eyes. "That screaming, crying, pooping machine that has infested the room next to mine," he growled.

"All night long!" Goten added, little tears forming. "Gohan, it doesn't let us sleep! _Ever_!"

The bedroom door opened and Videl joined in to the conversation. "What's up, boys?"

Goten broke away from Gohan and latched on to Videl, burrowing his face into her shoulder. "I haven't gotten to sleep for two weeks!" he wailed. "It just cries and it cries and it cries at nighttime, and it never lets us sleep, and we got to do school during the day, and we're so tired, and I really wanna sleep! Please let me sleep!"

It was then that Gohan looked down at Trunks and frowned. "Your parents have no idea you're here, do they?"

Trunks shrugged one shoulder casually, refusing to pick his arm off of his face. "Dad knows," he mumbled, already beginning to drift off. "He just didn't stop us when we left. Probably thinking about doing the same thing…"

"Trunks!" Videl softly admonished, rubbing calming circles on Goten's back to help the child relax. "You shouldn't say such things!"

Angrily, the little prince propped himself up slightly and glared at the young woman. "I'm a super powered kid who hasn't pulled off more than three hours of sleep a night in two friggin' weeks," he darkly growled before falling back down. "I think we should just be happy that I haven't killed anybody yet. Now if you don't mind, can we just go to bed?"

The young married couple exchanged a wary look with one another. Neither one of them felt they could turn the boys away, but honestly, neither one of them wanted the boys there, either. Their apartment was fairly small, and there was no way for them to truly get any privacy with Trunks and Goten staying there. They still craved their intimate moment, but watching both boys drifting off, they knew that they were not going to get it.

Gently, Videl laid Goten on the opposite end of the couch from Trunks. They just barely fit on it, but it was the only available space that was not the floor. The couple shared a queen bed, and Gohan alone, stretched out in his sleep, took up most of it. There was no way they could fit the children on it too.

"I'll call Bulma," Videl offered, draping a blanket over the already dozing boys.

"No," Gohan softly sighed. "That's not going to end well. Bulma will panic when she finds out that these two ran away, and she's going to start keeping a closer eye on them."

Videl frowned at her husband. "How is her keeping a closer eye on them a bad thing?" she asked.

"Because it can't possibly work," the young man pointed out. "Bulma's got a two week old baby at home. She's not going to be able to constantly track Goten and Trunks. There's no way."

"Well it's not like she's the only adult in that house!" Videl hissed. She, too, was tired, and her frustration had gone from arousing to angering. "Why can't Vegeta keep the boys there?"

Gohan rubbed his eyes. "He's probably been bouncing back and forth between Bulma's post-partum moods, the same crying that's got these two idiots running away, and, of course, these two idiots. Factor into that his natural temper and tolerance for things. He was probably the one that pushed them out the window tonight."

That did not seem to calm down his young bride. "But this is not our responsibility," she angrily pointed out. "We can't be expected to be on twenty four hour alert for any time Trunks and Goten need a break from the baby. It's not fair!"

"I know that!" Gohan hissed, his own frustrations getting the better of him. "I'm not saying that this is okay! I'm just saying that calling Bulma at ten minutes to midnight to tell her that two kids she's responsible for have snuck out is not going to end well, so don't jump down my throat!"

Videl took a step back and looked at her husband apprehensively. Gohan rarely got upset in front of her, and never directly at her. "I'm sorry," she quietly said. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Frowning, Gohan closed his eyes and shook his head. "It's not you," he told her, his growing exhaustion evident in his voice. "You didn't do anything wrong. Any sane person would have come to the same conclusion you did. I guess I'm just more tired than I thought."

The petite fighter approached her husband and gave him a hug. "We'll get through tonight," she assured. "And in the morning, when we're not all tired and pissy, we'll come up with a reasonable plan for this."

"Thanks," the demi-Saiyan contently sighed. He rested his cheek on top of her head and ever so slightly smiled. "Let's go to bed. I'm beat."

/

Gohan was not happy when he got up in the morning. He had only gotten five hours of sleep before getting up to get ready for his early morning class, and instead of getting ready with his spunky little wife with the lights on, he found himself having to sneak around his own home in the dark to allow the boys to sleep. As much as it displeased him that the children had sporadically dropped in and crashed on his couch, he would not take his anger out on them. Not yet, at least. They may yet get their turn.

Despite what he knew it would do to him, Gohan opted to skip breakfast that morning. Not only did he not feel up to eating quietly in the dark, he had a stop to make before he went to his classes and it was one that could take a while. As silently as he could, he snuck past the boys and out of the apartment.

The flight did not actually take all that long, but to him it felt like an eternity. His mood on the subject had changed a thousand times through the night, and he still did not have a concrete plan of attack. He knew what had to be done, but with just how much force still needed to be determined. Unfortunately for him, he reached his destination before anything had a chance to be finalized.

Gohan slid in to Capsule Corp through Trunks' unlocked bedroom window, and was not at all surprised to find Vegeta walking in and glaring at him. "May I have a word with you?" the teenager bit out.

"Hn."

Gohan closed the window behind him, mindful to keep his taxed temper in check as he did so. "I would like to know," he angrily asked the prince, "just what the hell makes you think that any time Trunks and Goten are a handful you can foist them off on me?"

Vegeta's expression did not change at all. "I did not send those idiots to you," he pointed out.

"Well, you sure as hell didn't stop them!"

"No, I did not," the prince consented. "And yes, I did tell them to leave. But I told them to go to _baldy's _house, not yours."

Gohan paused for a moment, slightly stunned. "You didn't tell them to come to my place?"

Vegeta let out a little snort. "Please," he chastised. "Why the hell would I send them to you? You are rarely in your home longer than it takes to rest and take a shower. You are hardly in the position to watch those two lunatics."

"Well why did you send them to Krillen's, then?" the teenager demanded.

"Because," the prince explained through grit teeth, "that short imbecile offered to take them off our hands for a night if they were driving us crazy, and I was finally fed up with them enough to make baldy regret that offer."

"Oh." All of the anger that Gohan had been feeling had left him, and he could not help but feel slightly foolish in his position. "I owe you an apology. I'm sorry I came in accusing you without all the facts."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up," he retorted. "While it would not have been difficult to get the information from the brats, even I can admit that it is often easier to just let them crash where they are instead of attempting to get any form of logic through their heads. Now if you don't mind, get the hell out and let me get some sleep!"

Gohan offered an apologetic smile. "Yeah, sure, not a problem. I'll drop them off at Krillen's on my way to class."

"Whatever."

As he flew back home, Gohan wondered why, exactly, he had been so upset about the boys showing up in the first place. After having a chance to think quietly to himself, he realized that he was actually quite flattered that they chose him over Krillen. It meant that they trusted him more, felt more comforted by him. It was really quite a nice feeling.

However, that did not mean that their actions would go without consequence. Trunks and Goten could not believe that they could be told to go one place and run off to another without telling anyone. It was a dangerous and stupid thing to do, even if they were absurdly powerful compared to most on the planet. And Gohan really did not have the time, energy, or resources to be there for them every time something got a little rough. They were still young, but more and more Gohan was realizing that he really did need a chance to live his own life. Boundaries were going to have to be set and firmly maintained.

He was not looking forward to laying down the law with Goten, but it was something that had to be done.


	19. Chapter 19

Turning over on the couch, Goten nuzzled into the pillow and let out a content sigh. It was not nearly so luxurious as the bed he had claimed as his own at Capsule Corp, but for the first time in days his sleep was peaceful and uninterrupted. The new baby at Trunks' house was really cute when it was not crying, but when it started screaming at one in the morning, and again at three and again at five, even Goten's seemingly interminable tolerance wore out. The calm and stillness of Gohan's apartment was a very welcome change, and the little boy reveled in it.

At the other end of the furniture, Trunks shrugged up in the blanket that was stretched over the both of them. Over the past months, his naturally territorial nature had been showing up again little bit by little bit. He still kept a watchful eye out on his best friend, and always would, and he was mindful of when the younger boy was sad or lonely or needed a little something extra. However, as they both had begun to grow used to their new lives, Trunks had begun reverting to his old ways. It was not to say that the boy was selfish, but that his altruistic tendencies had faded from overprotective back to that of any normal child. He had dealt with more stress and responsibility than most children his age could have handled, and he had met those challenges head on and met them well. But at that moment, he was blissfully unaware of all of it as he slept contently.

It was in that tranquility that Gohan found them, and he found himself contemplating letting them sleep. They seemed so content in their sleep, not at all the distraught children that had come desperately to his door the night before. However, he knew he could not leave them be. There was not much time before he and Videl had to move on to their busy day, and there was no way they would leave the boys unsupervised in their apartment. That was just a terrible idea from every angle. The talk could wait until the evening, but the children needed to be relocated soon.

"Goten," the elder brother softly said, rocking the young boy in an attempt to wake him. "Goten, it's time to get up."

The little boy mumbled something into the pillow before burying his face firmly against it, refusing to forfeit his subconscious state.

Rolling his eyes, Gohan shook his brother harder. Goten really could sleep through just about anything, and trying to rouse the boy before he was good and ready was always a challenge. "Come on, kiddo," he said, no longer keeping his voice quiet. "We don't have time to do this the slow way. Rise and shine!"

"Flubba-ter-ba," the child replied, his voice well muffled by the pillow. It was clearly gibberish spoken in sleep, but the point of, "Leave me alone, I'm sleeping here," was coming through clearly.

"Goten!" Gohan tried loudly. "Wake up!"

"Oh, for crying out loud," Trunks grumbled from his end of the couch. "Gohan, either let us sleep or try to wake him up for real."

Warily, Gohan looked at the half-asleep prince. "What do you mean 'wake him up for real'?" he cautiously asked.

With a roll of his eyes, Trunks slid down on the couch and rammed his heel directly into Goten's side, shouting, "FOOD!"

"WHERE?" Goten screamed, jumping to his feet.

Trunks wore a smug look as he slid back down to his own end of the couch. "There. He's awake. Good times for all. Good-night."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Gohan interrupted, hauling Trunks back up. "You need to get up, too."

Groaning, Trunks propped himself up on his elbows and glared. "Come on, Gohan, the sun's barely up. Just let us sleep!"

"No can do," Gohan responded. "Videl and I need to get going fairly early today, so I need to drop the both of you off at Krillen's right now. So hustle up, we need to go." He moved to pull Trunks up, but found himself stalled by a tugging on his pant leg.

"Gohan, where's the food?" Goten whined, gazing up at his big brother with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster. "Trunks said there was food!"

"There isn't food here, Goten," Gohan sighed. "But if you guys come with me right now, we can get you to Krillen's place early enough for breakfast there."

Still tired and neither of them fully awake, both children grabbed what little they had brought the night before and followed Gohan out of the apartment and toward their next destination. They would be asleep again within five minutes of landing, giving Gohan a chance to go about his day and contemplate just how, exactly, to talk to the boys that evening.

/

Goten fidgeted nervously at the edge of his bead. His big brother had told him that they needed to talk, and he had used that grown-up voice that meant that it was serious. Swallowing, Goten looked down at his feet as he kicked lightly at the bed. He had a pretty good idea what they were going to talk about. He knew he was not supposed to have gone to Gohan's place that night, and he had a feeling that he was in a lot of trouble.

Gohan, standing before the bed, was almost as nervous as the child. Guilt ate away at him for what was about to be done, but it was an unfortunate thing that more and more Gohan knew had to be done. Finally, he sighed and pulled up a chair. "So, we really need to talk."

The young boy nodded, but he still did not look up. He had been in trouble before, and he did not like the feeling.

"Goten," Gohan reluctantly started, "you and Trunks did something pretty stupid last night."

Again, the child nodded, remaining silent.

"Do you know why it was stupid?" Gohan gently asked.

Goten continued to knock his heels against the edge of the bed, and his only response was a single shoulder shrug. It was how he usually reacted when he was in trouble. He was too embarrassed to do anything else.

Gohan leaned in and nudged his brother gently. "Come on, kiddo. I know your voice still works."

"We didn't go where we were supposed to," Goten whispered. "We were supposed to go somewhere else."

"And why was not going where you were supposed to go a bad idea?" Gohan pushed on softly.

Again, Goten shrugged his shoulder, but after a few seconds more he offered his answer. "It means you might not know where we are," he finally admitted. "And you would be worried about us." With tears brimming in his eyes, Goten finally looked up. "But we were with you! You knew where we were! And we weren't doing things that were dangerous or anything!"

"I know," Gohan gently told his brother. "But that's not the point. What do you think happened when you didn't show up at Krillen's last night?"

Goten simply shrugged his shoulder again. He genuinely had no idea.

"He called, looking for you," the older brother pointed out. "And he called Trunks' parents first."

Gulping, Goten suddenly sat up straight. Krillen had called Trunks' parents? No wonder everyone seemed made at him! It was really late when he and Trunks had gotten to Gohan's place, and if someone had called, it had to have been after they were asleep. And if was Trunks' _dad_ who picked up the phone… "Please don't let them kill me!" he cried.

More than slightly surprised, Gohan found himself torn between wanting to comfort the poor boy and wanting to laugh out loud at the reaction. "He's not going to kill you," he finally responded with a small smile.

"Are you sure?" Goten nervously asked.

Unable to resist the urge, Gohan rolled his eyes. "Believe me, when Vegeta wants someone to die, they know it." He shifted himself onto the bed, sitting directly next to his little brother. "But Goten, we really need to talk about something."

There was that tone again, the one that told Goten he was in real trouble, and instinctively the child once again looked down. "Okay," he barely whispered.

Gohan sighed. He had been dreading the conversation all day. There was no good way to get the message across without risking his brother's feelings, but it needed to be done. "Listen," he softly began, "we kind of talked about this before, but I don't think you completely understood."

Reluctantly, Goten looked up. "We did?"

"Yes, we did," Gohan explained. "We talked about how I was moving out, and I was going to be living in my own place and all that stuff."

Goten looked at his brother, more confused than anything else. "But I know you did that," he countered. "You live in that little place with Videl instead of living with me. I understand that, Gohan."

"I know you understand that part," Gohan responded. "But I don't think I was clear about what that really means."

"Oh."

Adjusting his weight slightly, Gohan softly began to wring his hands in his lap. "When someone begins to become a grown up, they need to do certain things," he tried to explain. "Living on my own with Videl is one of those things, just like going to college and having a job."

Goten appeared more confused than ever as his big brother talked. He already knew about the grown up stuff that Gohan was talking about. They had already talked about it. So what had he not understood? What was the new information?

"You know that you'll always be my little brother, right, Goten?" the teenager asked. "And you know that you'll always be important to me, no matter what?"

"Um, yeah…" Where on earth was the conversation going?

Nervously, Gohan sighed again. "But when you're first becoming a grown up, you don't have the ability to do all the things you did when you were younger. I love you, Goten, and when there is real trouble, I will always be there for you. But you can't just drop in whenever you feel about, and you can't expect me to always be able to stop what I'm doing to help you."

He could feel his lower lip quivering, but Goten was trying his hardest not to cry. "So, you don't have time for me anymore?"

"That's not what I said," the older brother softly defended. "I will do what I can to make sure that I do get to spend _some_ time with you. But Goten, when you have a problem like not being able to sleep, or needing help with your homework, or not being able to find your favorite toy, you need to turn to someone else. I just can't do it right now."

Goten looked as though he had been slapped in the face. Hearing that his older brother no longer really had time to him hurt him in a way that he had not felt since their mother had died. In an instant, he felt more alone than he had ever felt in his life. No father, no mother, and suddenly no big brother. He knew that Gohan had to move out had not been hard because Gohan would still be nearby and easily accessible. But it was clear that it was no longer the case.

"You're…you're leaving me?" he hoarsely whispered.

Cringing, Gohan placed what he hoped to be a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'm not leaving any more than I already did," he attempted to explain. "But I need to be able to live like a grown up does when they first become a grown up, and I…" But he could not bring himself to finish the statement. What was he supposed to say? I can't live my own life with you around? I can't get used to being a husband if I'm too busy raising my brother? I have too many of my own problems, I can't deal with yours, too? Get the hell out, you keep showing up when I'm about to get sex? None of them could be said!

Tears began to run down Goten's face, and he buried his face in his big brother's shirt. "Don't make me go away, Gohan!" he desperately cried. "I'll be good! I'll do anything you want me to! I can't lose you, too! I already lost Daddy and Mommy, and I'm not gonna lose you! I'm not, I'm not!"

Gohan's heart broke at his brother's passionate plea, and any resolve he had at setting up boundaries crumbled away. The hell with adulthood and living his own life, how could anyone turn away from that needy request? Goten had been through too much already. What brother would put that sweet child through any more?

Unable to respond in any other way, Gohan pulled Goten in for a hug, quietly patting the child on the back while he continued to sob. There was nothing else that could be done. Gohan would just have to find some way to explain to Videl what had happened, and to pray that she would be understanding. After all, it was not only his life that Goten had a tendency to interrupt.

Several minutes went by with the brothers in that state before a soft knock was heard at the door. "Hey, boys?" Bulma softly said, poking her head into the room. "Can I interrupt for a minute?"

"Now really isn't the best time," Gohan gently responded, using his head to point toward his still hysterical brother.

Bulma nodded, and the door closed slightly, but only an inch or two before opening all the way. "Okay, men!" she loudly called out. "Get to work!"

Trunks sprinted into the room and grabbed Goten, prying him off Gohan and using his own body as a surrogate as he led the sad boy out. Vegeta was much slower to action, not even bothering to take both hands out of pockets as he body blocked Gohan from following the children. "You are going to sit the hell down and listen to what the witch has to say."

"But…"

Gohan found himself pinned to the ground with Vegeta's foot on his chest. "Listen, boy," the prince darkly growled, "I haven't had sex in months, and the offer's on the table. Do you think I am either long in temper or likely to back down?"

"Quit tormenting the boy," Bulma chided, entering all the way.

But her husband shot her a dirty look. "You cashed in your favor of the day to keep him here, woman. You never said anything about being nice!"

"Oh, for crying out loud," the heiress huffed as she got between the Saiyans. "Would you just get out of here?"

"Hn."

As soon as they were alone and Gohan was back on his feet, Bulma put her hands on her hips. "Alright, mister, you sit on this bed and listen up good."

Gohan raised an eyebrow at the woman before him. "What, am I grounded or something?"

"Laugh it up, boy, I just cashed in the only favor I get in the day to get this talk," the heiress snapped. "Now, sit!"

Still anxious about Goten, Gohan sensed that resisting was only going to keep him from his older brotherly duties longer than necessary, and the sooner Bulma was appeased, the sooner he could get to Goten. Gohan quietly took a seat and folded his hands in his lap, waiting to see what was happening.

Bulma stood before him, her feet hips distance apart and her hands on her hips. She was not quite yet done losing the baby weight yet, and that extra weight on her frame somehow made her more intimidating. "You have done quite enough, young man!" she scolded.

Gohan sat a little straighter. "What did I do?"

"Everything! You go to work, you go to school, you are there for your wife, and now you're trying to go back and raise your brother, too. Well not in my house, mister!"

More confused than ever, the eighteen year old asked, "Am I in trouble for doing the right thing?"

"You are in trouble, you over achieving perfectionist," she lectured, "because you are not paying attention to one of the earliest things I told you after you and your brother came here. You are a young man, you idiot, and you need a chance to act like one. Which, by the way, is something I don't think I have _ever_ seen you do in your _life_. You are the only person I know who's both a teenager and a near destroyed old man all at once, and I absolutely will not allow it. Now I command you to relax!"

With a worn sigh, Gohan got to his feet. "Bulma, I appreciate the sentiment, but I need to get to Goten…"

"No, you don't," she interrupted. "Trunks is with him now, and I'll talk to him later. Goten will be fine."

All humor left Gohan's face. "You weren't in here, Bulma. You don't know what it would do to him…"

But again he found himself interrupted. "Honey, we _all_ know what was going on in here. We've been placing bets on it for half an hour. And before you start asking, yes, I was spying on you, and for good reason. We all knew that he would cry, and then you would back down."

"Bulma…"

"No!" She approached him and put her hand on his chest, guiding him to once more take a seat on the bed. "Gohan, you need to listen to me. You have been an amazing older brother. You have also been an amazing husband, employee, and student. And do you know what happens to people who need to be flawless at absolutely everything they do in their lives to the point where they don't do anything else? They learn to resent and hate all those things they worked so hard on, because one day they wake up, and they realize that they have nothing, _nothing_, that makes them happy for _them._ You spend your entire life making someone else happy. You have nothing left for you."

"I like making people happy," Gohan defended.

Letting out a small huff, Bulma sat next to the boy. "I know you do, sweetie. And making people happy is a wonderful thing. But Gohan, I've known you since you were a very little boy, and I've never once heard of you doing something just for fun. Everything's always been something you _had_ to do."

"I'm responsible for a lot of things," came the expected response.

Bulma gave the teenager a reassuring pat on the back as she told him, "You're a goody-goody whose boy-scout tendencies are becoming a pain in my ass." She paused for a moment to collect a calming breath before going on. "Gohan, you are not responsible for everything. In fact, I have the legal paperwork that shows that I'm the one responsible for Goten, not you. And you can't be there for Goten for every little thing, whether you want to or not."

Suddenly worn, Gohan spared the heiress a long glance. "He's my little brother, Bulma."

"Yes, I did notice that," she quickly responded. "And just like many little brothers before him who have a big brother who goes off to college and gets married, he's taking a while to adjust to you not being around all the time. He misses you, and that was to be expected. But Gohan, if you give in to his tears now, and you run to his beck and call for the little things, then he's never going to be able to get used to the idea of you being gone. And I know you don't think you do too much, but I've been watching you haul your exhausted body over here far too often. Is it any wonder that the boys ran to you last night?"

Only silence met her, which did not surprise her at all. "And before you say anything about being there for your brother," she softly went on, "think about what that means you're doing to your wife."

True enough, Videl occasionally did voice frustration at how little she actually got to see him. She had never done it in any sort of accusing way, but being married at eighteen and only getting to see your love for an hour a day was hard on her. And when perfectly honest with himself, Gohan knew that he did not go out of his way to make that much time for her. Between his other duties, including keeping Goten happy, it was only too easy to give in to the simple thought that, at the end of the day, Videl would still be there.

"Now," Bulma went on, getting to her feet, "I hereby command you to go home and see your wife."

"But…"

"No buts, mister!" she ordered. "I told you, Goten is not your responsibility. He's a good kid, and he will adapt just fine _if you let him_. Besides, it's not like he's alone here. Frankly, I'm more worried about what's going to happen when _Trunks_ graduates ahead of him. He'll be fine, and you need to trust me with that."

"But…"

"What did I just tell you? No buts! Now you go home to your pretty little wife, and maybe see if you can score tonight. Lord knows you could use an endorphin boost."

Gohan raised his eyebrow at the heiress. "Are you actually telling me to go out and have sex?"

Bulma rolled her eyes and pointed at the door. "He made me say it."

"Get out and get laid before you drive us insane!" Vegeta's voice bellowed through the door.

Gohan and Bulma shared a small laugh, but Gohan's smile only lasted briefly. "Bulma, you know I can't leave Goten when he's that upset."

However, Bulma placed a finger to her lips, signaling for the boy to be quiet. It took a short while, but when he listened carefully, Gohan heard the unmistakable sound of children laughing with each other, calling out, "Look, look, look! She grabbed my thumb!"

"Trunks took him to play with Bra," Bulma whispered. "I don't know what it is about that girl, but when she's not screaming, crying, or in need of a new diaper, she has managed to get every man around her to fawn over her like there's no tomorrow."

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, both just enjoying the sounds of the two boys giggling with the baby girl. It was happy and joyous and full of mirth. Finally, Bulma gave Gohan's hand a gentle squeeze. "He's going to be fine," she assured again. "And I'll tell him that I made you go home. Now go. Let us take care of the hard parts. Go do something that makes you as happy as those children are right now."


	20. Chapter 20

With an exhausted smile on his face, Gohan looked over at his wife. "Done," he gently bragged.

Videl approached his desk, wiping her freshly washed hands on a dish rag. "Done as in done done?" she asked. "Actually done? Completely done? Totally done? Never have to worry about again so long as we live done? Like, done?"

"Done done," her husband affirmed. "It's been checked and reviewed and approved. It is completely finished, it has been saved on four different devices, and three hard copies are on stand by, just in case. I am taking absolutely no chances with this. This is it. No more revisions, no more alterations, no more advisor meetings. I'm submitting it tomorrow, I'll defend it whenever the hell they tell me to, and after that, it will never get in our way again. It is _done_."

Videl wrapped her arms around her husband's shoulders and gave him a giant hug. "Oh, Gohan, I'm so happy!" she cried. "And I'm so, so proud of you!"

"Thanks," he tiredly replied. "It's been a long time in the works, but I'm just glad that I finally got it finished." He turned his head and gave his loving wife a gentle kiss. "Remember this day, honey, because it marks the first and last break I get for the next few years."

"Don't I know it," his wife responded. "But that doesn't mean I'm not proud of what you've gotten done."

Gohan blushed gently as he powered down his computer. "It's just a thesis…"

"No, it's a thesis to finish up a double major in biochemical engineering and human physiology," she countered. "Which, I might add, you managed to get done in a very impressive, if not undeniably stressful, three years."

The twenty one year old half Saiyan smiled and leaned his head back, resting it on his wife's shoulder. "I almost didn't pull it off," he confessed.

But Videl just let out a little giggle. "That's bull and you know it," she teased. "Now, it might have been impossible if you didn't have super human abilities, but you do have those nifty powers of speed and endurance, and we both knew you'd pull it off. I never thought I'd tell this to someone, but you really need to learn to be less modest."

Again, Gohan smiled. "You know what's weird?" he told her. "Everyone else is so scared about going in to defend their thesis. They say it's the scariest part of the entire process. But it doesn't actually scare me at all. Is that strange?"

"Not really," his wife answered, kissing the top of his head. "You were abandoned in the woods and forced to survive and turned into a front line fighter before you were old enough to go into first grade. After all of that, explaining scientific findings seems almost boring."

"It's not boring!" Gohan quickly defended.

Videl laughed again. "Okay, okay, not boring," she retracted. "Let's just call it comparatively low on the stress scale. Going in to talk about something you're confident in hardly seems on par with life and death battle."

"Fair enough."

"Now," his wife went on, leaning in to kiss his ear, "I know you're probably exhausted, but I think that this is cause for celebration."

Gohan's smile turned to a smirk as his wife moved from his neck to his ear. "Honey, you read my mind."

/

"Trunks, stop being a stupid head!" Bra cried, chasing after her big brother.

But the young prince jumped over the couch and easily widened the distance between himself and his sister. "I'm not being a stupid head," he taunted back, "you are!"

"Nuh-uh!" the little girl protested, still running as fast as she could. "You're the stupid head!"

The exchange went on for several minutes before Goten entered the room, taking a bite out of an apple. "You know, I never thought I would ever be the one to say this," he mentioned, apple pieces wedged in his cheek, "but I am actually the most mature person here right now."

Trunks shot him a dirty glare. "Hey! You are not!"

"Yeah he is!" Bra shouted back. "He's way more mature than you!"

"He is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

Goten rolled his eyes as he finished off the apple. "Never thought I'd see the day that Trunks couldn't out argue a three year old."

"She's not winning!" Trunks shouted.

"Yes she is."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"I was too winning!" Bra jumped in. Since learning how to talk, that girl refused to let an argument go on without her input. She had a voice, and it would be heard, whether it directly involved her or not. And if it was a challenge specifically to her? Well then heaven help the other side. She was stubborn, and she was proud, and she did not like to lose.

Trunks opened his mouth to fall back into the pattern, but logic finally wound its way through his mind. He finally realized just how foolish he must have sounded, using such immature and childish tactics. And while he would not consent to the idea of losing to a three year old, it was hard to ignore the fact that he was, in fact, arguing with one. Deciding that he no longer wanted to participate, the tossed the toy he had stolen back to the little girl, mumbling, "Whatever," as he turned to walk away.

Beaming, Bra clutched the toy to her chest. "Yes!" she cheered. "I won! I won!"

Goten chuckled, sitting down on the couch and watching the girl dance around. She could be a pain in the ass as an opponent, but as long as he stayed on her good side, she was just cute. "You sure did," he praised, kicking back and relaxing.

Still proud and holding the toy tight, Bra bounced onto the couch and sat cross legged at Goten's side. "I didn't need your help," she casually mentioned. Even at the tender age of three, she understood the importance of image and reputation. She was a precocious child, which was to be expected.

Beside her, Goten nodded. "Oh, I know you didn't," he responded. He tossed the core of his apple all the way across the room, easily sinking it into the wastebasket. "You had him all on your own."

Her smile became brighter, and Bra pulled the toy to her lap, inspecting it for damage. "I know," she confidently assured him. "But even though I didn't need your help, it was still very nice of you. Thank you for helping, Goten."

The eleven year old boy smiled at her. "Hey, it's what I'm here for!" he laughed.

Bra nodded and continued to play with her toy. She was bright for her age, but she was still not entirely sure how Goten fit in to her home. She had a mommy and a daddy and a big brother, like a lot of people had. And they were supposed to live with her. But Goten was not her brother. She knew that well enough. And she knew that Goten did not have a mommy or a daddy of his own, and that he had his own big brother named Gohan. She did not see Gohan a lot, but she knew him well enough to know he was real. But just how, exactly, Goten fit in with _her_ was still not entirely clear. He lived with her, and he was kind of like a brother, but how to describe him was still a little beyond her.

But no matter what his title to her was, he was still a lot of fun. He traded teams between her and Trunks a lot, and that kept him interesting. Whenever she was losing an argument with her big brother, she knew to turn to Goten and try to convince him. She could usually win him over, and then Trunks would quit, meaning she won.

"Goten?" she asked, continuing her inspection of her toy.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Can I ask you something?"

The eleven year old shrugged one shoulder. "Sure."

Bra hesitated slightly before asking her question. She had a feeling that she was not supposed to ask it, but she really wanted to know. "Did you ever have a mommy and daddy of your own?"

Goten blinked, looking down at the little girl at his side. Her question seemed completely out of the blue, but he was happy to answer it to the best of his abilities. "Well, that's kind of a weird question," he started. "I mean, I can answer it, but the answer is kinda weird."

"Oh," Bra responded. "Okay. But can I try to understand?"

"Of course," Goten chuckled. "Now, you're going to have to listen carefully, because it gets a little confusing. Okay?"

"Okay."

Smiling, Goten looked up at the wall, putting his answer together. "For a really long time, I got to live with my own mommy," he explained.

"What was she like?" Bra asked.

"She was wonderful," Goten told her. "She was really pretty, and really strong, and she made the best food ever."

Blue eyes grew wide. "Even better than Grandma's food?"

"Even better," Goten assured. "It was the best. But even more than that, she was really loving. She could be strict if you were breaking rules or not doing your work, but she would tell us every single day how much she loved us and that she was proud of us."

"Wow," Bra whispered in awe. "She sounds really nice."

Goten nodded. "She was."

Scooting herself further back against the couch cushions. "So why don't you live with her anymore?" she innocently questioned.

The boy sighed and leaned his head back. "Well, my mommy died." Even though the event happened years earlier, it still felt odd to say out loud. He briefly tried to remember the last time he had actually told anyone what had happened to his mother, and he was a little surprised when he came up blank. "Anyway," he went on, "since my mommy wasn't there anymore, your parents were nice enough to let me stay here."

"But what about your daddy?" she asked. "Why didn't you stay with him?"

"Honestly?" he responded. "I never really had one. I only heard stories about him until I was seven, and then I met him, and then a month later he was gone."

That did not seem to sit well with the girl. "Where did he go?"

"Dunno," Goten answered with an indifferent shrug. "He just kinda left. I have no idea where he went."

Bra leaned forward, her toy forgotten. "Don't you want to know?"

But again, Goten seemed fairly indifferent. "Not really," he let her know. "I mean, I wouldn't be upset if anyone told me, but it's not like I really knew him. He was there, and then he wasn't. And I've got a good life here. I can't imagine it being better than this, so what do I care where he is?"

Bra frowned, trying to understand what she was being told. "But he's your daddy," she reasoned. "So shouldn't he be here?"

"See, this is why I told you that it can be hard to understand," Goten sighed. "Yes, I have a daddy, and yes, I'm pretty sure he's alive. But from what I've heard from other people, my daddy was called away by these really powerful godlike guys called the Kais. They said they needed his help with something, so he went to help them."

"But shouldn't he be helping you?" the little girl asked again.

Goten shrugged again. "I don't really need his help," he honestly answered. "Like I said before, I really only knew him for, like, a month. He seemed like a nice enough guy, though."

The frown on Bra's young face deepened. "I don't think I'm getting it," she confessed. "I thought if a daddy was alive, he was supposed to be with you. I get to see my daddy every single day."

"Well, sometimes mommies and daddies don't always live together," Goten explained. "And sometimes a part of one family can live in one place, and another part of the same family can live in another place. It just happens like that sometimes."

That concept was even more foreign to the three year old. She had only ever lived in one home her entire life, and with her lived her mom, her dad, her big brother, her grandma, her grandpa, and her Goten. If there was such a thing as family of hers that lived in another building, she had never heard about them. "Goten?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can you explain this to me again when I'm older? I think I'm still too little to get it."

Laughing, Goten wrapped an arm around the child's shoulder and pulled her in to a brotherly hug. "It's a deal, kiddo."

/

Videl sighed contently, her head resting gently on her husband's broad chest. Listening to his heart steadily beating, slow and regular and strong, was such a soothing sound. It put her at such ease, no matter how stressful things got. And in moments like that, after a moment of celebration, it left her with a warm and beaming glow.

"This is nice," she told him.

"Mm-hm," he lazily agreed.

"We haven't had a chance to just relax and be with each other in a long time," she sighed. "I'm glad we got to."

Gohan smiled, his eyes still closed as he pulled his wife closer to him. "Me too."

Sighing again, Videl nuzzled up underneath Gohan's chin. "We need to savor moments like this when we get them," she quietly said. "It could be a long time before we get another chance to just relax with each other again."

"I know," Gohan responded, somewhere between a sigh and a groan. "I'm still waiting to hear back from med schools, but as soon as I get in to one, I'm going right back to that psycho schedule again. And after that, residency. The next couple of months are going to be the last peace we have for a long, long time."

"Well, yeah," Videl slowly agreed, crawling up a little further and turning to look directly into her husband's eyes. "There is all that. But there's something else that's going to keep us on our feet for a while, too."

Gohan slowly opened his eyes, a confused look on his face as he mentally ran down a list of things that could potentially serve as distractions in their lives. Coming up blank, he finally asked, "Like what?"

Videl adjusted herself again, rolling on her side and propping her head up with her hand. "You know, honey," she began, "you've been working so hard on getting through all your undergrad work and getting ready for graduation, and I'm so proud of you for all of that."

Frowning, Gohan failed in attempting to decipher what her tone meant. "But?"

"Not but, and," she clarified. "It's an and. And you've been working so hard, and I know it's so important that you get this done, so I didn't want to add any more stress to you as you wrapped up your work."

"Could we cut to the chase here?" Gohan nervously asked. "Because honestly, you're starting to scare the crap out of me right now."

Videl giggled slightly. "Well, you know how we were talking about maybe moving from here to a two bedroom place when you graduated?"

"Still not helping with the anxiety, dear…"

"I think it's really important that we do," she continued, ignoring his interruption. "After all, can you imagine if we had to put the nursery in the living room instead of a bedroom?"

"Nursery?" It took a moment for her message to sink in, but his eyes were the size of saucers when he figured it out. "You mean you're…I mean, we're having a…we're going to be…"

Videl chuckled at Gohan's response. "Parents?" she supplied for him. "Yeah, that pretty much is what I was trying to tell you."

"But, how? When?" the young man sputtered.

His wife threw her head back and laughed. "Three solid years studying the human body, and you really need me to be the one to tell you _how_ this happened?"

"You know what I mean!" Gohan retaliated, his brain slowly starting to process at a normal speed again. "But when? I mean, do we know when you're due? Have you been to a doctor yet? Is everything okay?"

"I'm eleven weeks in," his wife chuckled. "Yes, I've been to the doctor. Twice, in fact. And everything is absolutely fine and dandy."

"Well why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Smiling softly, Videl ran her fingers down her husband's face. "I already explained that," she pointed out. "You've had a lot on your plate lately, and by the time I found out about it four weeks ago, I knew you were under the gun. I was pretty sure you were going to get this all completely done before the end of the first trimester, and I didn't want to stress you out any more than you already were. Watching you pull your hair out every time I thought more than ten seconds about what I wanted to eat was not going to do either of us a world of good. The way I figured it, it would be best for both of us if I just waited."

Gohan frowned as he looked into her eyes. "I should have noticed," he softly said. "Why didn't I notice?"

"See above answer," she joked. "Look, I made the choice to keep it from you until you were ready with your own stuff. There's no reason you should have noticed anything."

"But haven't you been feeling different?" he asked. "I thought there was morning sickness and headaches and dizzy spells and…"

"And some of it did happen," Videl admitted to him. "But I got lucky. Most of my symptoms haven't been that bad so far. I mean, yeah, there are some foods that I can't stand to be around these days, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't spent at least one afternoon feeling like my insides were trying to become my outsides, but overall, it hasn't been so bad. Just don't buy nectarines for a while and we'll be good. Just the smell of those is enough to make my stomach roll." She shook a little and grimaced. "Check that. Just the _thought_ of them does it a little."

Gohan blinked, a smile slowly appearing on his face. "We're having a baby," he softly said.

"Yes we are," she affirmed, kissing his nose. "A teeny tiny baby, one that's half you, and half me."

"Does anyone else know yet?" he asked. He was sincerely hoping that he was the first to find out about it, but he understood that there was a chance she may have needed support before she was ready to tell him.

But Videl shook her head, smiling all the while. "Nope," she assured. "You're the only person, other than my doctor, who knows. I figured you got first dibs, and then we could hash out who got to find out in what order after that."

"Order?" Gohan asked. "There's an order?"

"You know, I was kind of the same way when I first found out," she told him. "I thought, well, we'll tell people when we see them. But when you get a little time to think about it, you kind of figure out that there does need to be at least a little thought in who finds out before whom. I mean, if your mom was here, I'd say we should tell her first."

Gohan looked away for a moment, a soft smile on his face as he thought about his mother. "She always did want grandchildren," he sadly mused.

"And now she's getting one," Videl gently brought up. "And I'm sure she probably has been spying on us from the afterlife on a regular basis to make sure that she got them. Hell, she probably knew before I did!"

Letting out a small chuckle, Gohan looked once more at his wife. "You know what? You're probably right."

"Anyway," Videl went on, "since she's probably already in the loop, we need to decide who else pulls rank. I figure my dad and Bulma would probably be at the top of the list."

All mirth and joy left Gohan's face. "Oh, crap, we have to tell your dad…"

Videl raised an eyebrow at her beloved. "Um, Gohan, there's nothing my dad can do to you," she pointed out. "You're infinitely more powerful than he is, and besides, we're having the child in wedlock. It'll be fine, and if it doesn't bother you, I'd like for him to be the first to know."

Gulping, Gohan nodded. It did seem fair that he be the first on their list. After all, he was the only grandparent still around. "Yeah, we can do that," he nervously agreed. "But after that, I get Bulma and Goten."

An amused look spread over Videl. "Can you just imagine it?" she giggled. "Little Uncle Goten."

"I think that's one of the signs of the Apocalypse," Gohan mused. They lay together quietly for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other's company in the quiet of their small home. Just as Videl was starting to drift off, she heard her husband draw a long, slow breath.

"We're really having a baby," he quietly said.

With a content sigh, Videl leaned back in, once more taking her place directly over his heart. "Yeah," she whispered. "We really are."


	21. Chapter 21

"I swear, we didn't do anything wrong!" Trunks insisted.

But Bulma placed her hands on her hips and glared at the boys before her. "Now why would I think that you two might have done something wrong?" she challenged. "Because I've met you two before? Because I know what happens to common sense when the two of you are anywhere near each other? Or maybe it's because I got a phone call from your principal this afternoon?"

Trunks refused to back down in the face of his mother's agitation. "It wasn't his fault!" he shouted. "And even if it was, the other kid had it coming, so it was justification through provocation!"

"His?" the mother asked, shifting her gaze to Goten.

Realizing his mistake too late, Trunks took a protective step in front of his best friend. "Mom, listen, I can explain the whole thing…"

"I'm sure you can," Bulma interrupted, holding her hand up to emphasize her control. "But I don't want to hear it from you. I want to hear it from the one the principal called about."

"But Mom…"

"No 'buts', mister," she cut off once more. "You may be great at double talking, and we all know that you want to take on every major challenge in Goten's life as your own, but you can't protect him this time. What's done is done, and I want to hear, from Goten, what, exactly, happened today."

Trunks opened his mouth once more, still not ready to resign his station as Goten's protector, but a soft hand on his shoulder halted him. "Come on, man," Goten said with a crooked smile, "you've got to let me answer for my own crimes at some point."

"No, I don't," Trunks insisted.

But Goten simply continued to smile. "Yeah, actually, you do. And I'll be okay." Steadying his shoulders, he faced his guardian and drew a calming breath. "Look, I know I shouldn't have done it, and I'm really sorry that I crossed the line. I won't let it be an issue again."

Bulma hardly seemed appeased by the response, though. "If you think this one warrants just an apology to be dropped forever, you've got another thing coming, mister. Now sit down on the couch and tell me, from the beginning, what happened."

Goten nodded, obliging his legal guardian. He had always been a fairly laid back young man, and unless in serious, serious trouble, he had never particularly had an issue talking about anything to anyone. "Okay, so here's what happened…"

/

"_Heads up, the sharks are circling," Trunks bitterly mumbled._

_Goten glanced over his shoulder. There was a group of seniors watching them, studying them, looking like predators moving in for the kill. "Eh, whatever," he shrugged it off. "I mean, what's the worst they can do to us anyway? It's not like they can beat us up or anything."_

_But Trunks still seemed on edge. "I know damn well they can't beat us up," he muttered. "Hell, they'll break their fists if they take a swing. We wouldn't even have to move."_

"_So what's the problem?" his younger friend asked._

"_The problem," Trunks tensely explained, "is that they are looking for something to do to us."_

"_And?"_

_Trunks shot his best friend a glare. "And if they are planning something, then we have to consider them a threat, no matter how unlikely it is that they'll actually be able to pull anything off."_

_Goten laughed and clapped a hand on Trunks' shoulder. "Oh, man, if you could hear yourself now," he teased. "You sound just like your dad!"_

"_It's not paranoia when they're actually out to get you," the young prince defended. "Look, I'm not saying that they're going to actually pull anything off, and even if they try, they're not going to win. But we're being targeted, and that needs to be taken seriously!"_

_The younger of the pair shook his head. "You know, ever since they skipped you ahead, you've gotten totally on edge. Just relax a little, man!"_

_True enough, Trunks had been struggling over the past academic year. Academically, the fourteen year old was able to handle the curriculum of eleventh grade easily. However, he was significantly younger than his peers, and as such was much earlier in adolescence than the others in his grade. In spite of his intelligence, and the fact that he carried himself as though he were much older than he actually was, it was obvious that he was still a child next to them. On top of that, he bested them in every arena, from schoolwork to sports. Being shown up by a much younger boy did not lead for high levels of acceptance by the older teens._

_It also did not help that he continued to hang out with Goten, two full grades behind. The school year had barely started, and even Goten was on the younger side of his class. High school was already proving to be a force neither of them had been prepared to deal with. In elementary school, it had been easy enough to get by socially. They were still considered a little odd by their peers, mostly due to the almost unnatural bond that they shared, but when considered children, more people had been willing to let it go. Four weeks of being together in high school had already gotten them mocked fairly mercilessly. It mostly seemed to roll off Goten, but Trunks, who had already been fighting for acceptance among the ranks of the teenagers for two years, was certainly cut deeper._

"_Look, let them be assholes," Goten assured his best friend. "They'll talk trash, and that's it. There's nothing else they can do to us. And if we don't let it bother us, they'll get frustrated and give up."_

"_Or they'll get mad and try something big," Trunks pointed out. "I don't know what they might try, but they'll try something, I just know it."_

"_Yep, you're paranoid."_

_Trunks did not seem to relax at all, but he did stop talking about the subject. After all, to a certain extent, his best friend was right. There was only so much that the older students could do to him. Resigning himself to his thoughts, the young prince led the way to the cafeteria. Perhaps after getting some food in his stomach, he would feel slightly better._

_Goten began a much more lighthearted conversation, hoping to get Trunks to relax, but even he was starting to feel slightly on edge. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the group of seniors following them closely. No matter how laid back he normally was, even he had to admit that such behavior was not a good sign._

_They made their way in to the cafeteria and took their seats, starting in on their nutrient dense lunches. Slowly, Trunks was starting to relax a little, and they began to talk about miscellaneous adventures they planned to have as soon as they were old enough to live on their own. Trunks had already found the place he was sure they would move into as soon as high school was behind both of them. Large square footage, a game room they could customize, and, what the selling point had been for Goten, three large refrigerators and freezers in the garage. The two boys enjoyed coming up with how exactly the would make it the coolest place ever._

_That day, however, it was hard to get completely absorbed into it. The seniors were clearly stalking them, hunting for an opportunity. Even Goten could no longer ignore their presence. Despite knowing full well that there was virtually nothing they could do to hurt them, it was still intimidating to be watched like prey. Several tense minutes passed as the boys pretended not to notice the pack of older students, both of them hoping that they would choose to walk away. But luck, as usual, was not with them, and the older boys approached with malice in their eyes._

_They started out with verbal taunts, but Trunks and Goten ignored them. It would have been too easy for things to spiral out of control quickly if they fought back, and they knew it. A handful of incidents when they were children had trained them that when dealing with humans, the best solution was to not engage. When the taunts were not enough to get a rise out of the younger pair, the seniors sat down on the bench with them, crowding their space. Again, the younger pair tried to ignore them, but it was starting to get difficult. Instinct told both of them to respond physically, but logic won out and they simply got to their feet, set on walking away. As soon as they were up, though, someone took it a step too far._

_He verbally attacked Goten's mother._

_Everyone in the cafeteria paused as something shifted in the room. There was no sound, no movement to tell them what was going on. But something had shifted in the air, and it was powerful enough to make every human in the room stop what they were doing. Something was definitely off._

"_What did you say?" Goten softly demanded._

_As the senior repeated his offense, Trunks put a hand on Goten's shoulders. "Calm down," he firmly but quietly commanded. But Goten did not acknowledge him, and turned to square off against the larger boy. Trunks watched in horror as he saw Goten's eyes grow lighter in color, threatening to flicker into teal. "Goten," he tried again, his voice slightly louder than before, "he's not worth it."_

_Slowly Goten glanced over at his best friend. The message had gotten through clearly, but he was not satisfied with walking away any longer. No one slandered his family like that and got away with it. Something needed to be done, but he was just barely calm enough to reason out that violence was not going to solve anything. He stood quietly for a few seconds before a wicked smirk crossed his face._

"_You know what?" he loudly informed Trunks. "I think that's the problem right there. And we should fix that." Before anyone else could react he reached out and grabbed the senior by the shoulders and hauled him to the front of the room._

"_Excuse me," he called out, "can I have everyone's attention?" The other students, who were still trying to figure out what the earlier disturbance was, looked to the freshman manhandling a senior. "Thank you," the boy went on. "My fellow students, something has come to my attention recently that I feel needs to be addressed immediately."_

_The senior used a few choice phrases as he struggled to escape Goten's grasp, but there was nothing he could do to release himself from that grip. It was humiliating, but in spite of being several inches larger than the freshman, the senior seemed absolutely powerless._

"_This young man," Goten loudly explained, "is a troubled soul. See, he feels so bad about himself, and so insecure with the way his own life is going, that the only way for him to feel better about his own failures is to take it out on someone else. Now I know, I know, we should probably not give him attention for this, since that's clearly what he's after. But you see, he is _so_ hard on himself that he felt the need to come to me, a small, lowly, unknown freshman, and mock my mother. Now for those of you who don't know me well, and let's face it, that's most of you, my mother passed away when I was just a little kid."_

_There was a collective murmur spreading through the room as the students whispered about how sad it was that the unknown freshmen had lost his mother as a child, and how disgusting it was that someone would give him grief over it. The senior who had made those comments felt his face heat up with embarrassment, and he shot his buddies a desperate glance for help. But they were suddenly very aware of how much trouble they were in, and were slowly making their way for the double doors._

"_This fact," Goten continued, "was likely not known to him, and I do not hold it against him. For you see, it is not the slandering of my poor, deceased mother that bothers me." It was a lie, but other than Trunks, no one could tell that Goten was still seething over the insults made to his mother. The senior had no idea how lucky he was that Goten was not out for blood. "What bothers me is that this poor, poor senior felt he had nowhere else to turn to feel good about himself. So I ask of you, all of you, to stop by whenever you see him or his friends. Reach out to them. Tell them exactly what you think of them. Because in the end, isn't acceptance what we all need? Please, reach out to him. Thank you."_

_With a slightly aggressive shove, he finally let the older boy go and returned to his seat. All around him students talked, and some even applauded and cheered. He did not say another word as he grabbed his things, and he and Trunks left the cafeteria._

_Once they were clear of the rest of the student body, Trunks grinned from ear to ear. "Holy crap," he laughed, "could you see the look on that guys face while you were talking?"_

"_No, but I could feel him squirming to get away like that frog you and I caught when we were, like, nine," Goten smugly answered._

"_That was awesome!" his best friend praised. "How did you come up with that so fast?"_

_With a slight chuckle, Goten shook his head. "Honestly?" he confessed. "I asked myself what could be said to a crowd of peers that would piss your dad off like no tomorrow, and I ran with it. Anyone who's going to do something over what I said is either going to tell him he's the jackass that he is, or they're going to do that 'Oh, bless your heart, let me give you a hug you poor, broken bird' thing. Either way, he loses."_

_Sharing a laugh, they heard the bell ring for the end of lunch and knew that had to head to their respective classes. They parted ways, promising they would talk about it more the next time they got to meet up._

_Little did they know it would be thirty minutes later, sitting in the principal's office…_

_/_

"…so that pretty much sums it up," Goten finished. "I know I probably shouldn't have humiliated the guy in front of everyone, but come on, I had to do _something_, and at least I didn't get in trouble for fighting or anything."

Slowly, Bulma nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much what the principal said."

"What?" both boys asked in unison.

The heiress gave them a smile. "Apparently he was as harsh as he was on you guys because he found himself blindsided by two hundred simultaneous student complaints about the other guy, along with various versions of what you just told me. He was still trying to figure out what happened when he called the both of you in, and _someone_ I know decided to open his big mouth and get aggressive with him."

Trunks' cheeks turned red and he looked down. True enough, at the first sign that Goten had been in trouble, the young prince had shot his mouth off and tried to draw fire to himself.

"Anyway," the mother went on, "when he called me this afternoon, he was able to give me a pretty good version of the story as well as a personal apology that Goten had been treated in such a manner. He also wanted to express how proud he was that Goten's reaction to such a thing was limited to what it was, and to let me know that our young Goten has managed to become something of a folk hero on campus. He's not mad." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she shifted her glance specifically to her son. "Well, he's not mad at _one_ of you."

"Mom, I was just…"

"Doing what you always do," his mother interrupted. Her glare softened into a smirk. "You were protecting him however you could." With a shake of her head, she actually chuckled lightly. "Listen, I'm not mad at either of you. I just wanted to let you guys know that if stuff like this comes up, I'm happy to know that you're there for each other, and that you can get through it just fine. I'm proud of you guys."

That said, she gave each of them a small hug, got up, and left. Still slightly confused, the boys exchanged a look. "Is it just me, or did it seem like we were in big trouble when this started?" Goten asked.

Trunks rolled his eyes. "Mom sounds mad when she does just about anything. Same with Dad, for that matter. It makes it really hard to tell when we're actually in trouble."

"Yeah, it's really weird."

The elder of the pair shook his head and stood up. "All the years you've known my parents, and you still don't get that they're nuts?"

"Oh, no," Goten quickly assured. "I had that one pegged early on. Like, from the day I met them."

With a laugh, Trunks led them from the room. "Come on, we're going out for food, my treat. Today, my friend, you earned it."


	22. Chapter 22

"You are such a liar," Goten chuckled at his best friend.

"What?" Trunks laughed back. "I swear to you, that's what you're supposed to do!"

"No way!"

Gohan, who had been planning to pop in on his younger brother anyway, gave one quick knock before entering the teenager's room. "What's the scam he's trying to pull on you this time?"

Goten looked up and smiled. "This liar here is trying to convince me that you're not supposed to wear anything underneath the robe."

Upon receiving a threatening glare from the elder of the Son brothers, Trunks held up his hands defensively. "Hey man," he laughed, "you can't blame me for trying!"

"Oh, but we can," Gohan responded. "However, I am willing to grant you a stay of execution if you agree to give me a little time with Squirt here."

Trunks smiled as he headed for the door. "I find your terms acceptable. See ya!"

Gohan smirked at the closing door. "Please tell me you were not seriously contemplating listening to him on that," he chuckled.

"Nah," Goten assured. "It's just one of those things where he pitches an idea that we both know is absolutely ridiculous, and he sees if there's any way he can convince me otherwise. I will admit that he has pulled it off a couple of times, but it's been years. He wasn't even close."

"Well good," the elder brother assured. "I'd hate for you to be up there at the big moment only to have an unfortunate gust of wind cause a scene." Gohan chuckled as he thought about the prank. If Trunks had actually managed to convince Goten to go commando underneath his robe, the elder of the Son boys would have been furious. But since it was not going to be an issue, he found it more than a little amusing. "So while your evil twin was trying to find bigger and grander ways to humiliate you, did you actually get a chance to finish your speech?"

Goten smirked. "Actually, I thought I'd just get up there and ad lib the whole damn thing."

"Goten…" his brother warned.

However the lecture was interrupted by the younger brother's laugh. "Dude, chill out. I might not have always gotten around to doing my homework, but you know I wouldn't screw around with something like this. I've got it right here in my pocket, which happens to be situated on the pants that I _will_ be wearing underneath my robe."

"I still can't believe it," Gohan said with a grin. "The Squirt is all grown up now, isn't he?"

Goten rolled his eyes. "I'm graduating from high school," he chuckled. "I'm not the one gunning for a nice slot on the thoracic surgery crew at an absurdly young age."

"You're growing up," Gohan pushed on. "I _grew_ up. It's still hard for me to believe sometimes that we're not kids anymore."

"Point of order," Goten corrected. "I don't believe you and I were ever _kids_ at the same time."

"I was eleven when you were born!" the elder brother countered.

"Yeah, eleven going on forty!"

Gohan playfully smacked his younger brother across the shoulder. "The point is," he went on with a smile, "that you're an adult now. You're graduating, you and Trunks are getting an apartment together…which, by the way, I still sounds like a terrible idea…"

"Noted."

"…and you're about to take your first steps in this world as your own man," Gohan finished. "I'm really proud of you, Squirt."

Goten smiled as his brother gave him a hug. "Aw, thanks, man" he replied. "Listen, as great a sentimental moment as this is, we've got to get going. Can't be late!"

/

"He totally changed the speech," Trunks casually informed the group he was with.

Gohan leaned over and raised an eyebrow at the young man. "What are you talking about?"

"That speech Goten's supposed to give?" Trunks clarified. "He changed it."

"When?"

Trunks shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he started altering it about ten seconds after Principal Sutter told him he earned a speech slot. He's been messing with it for a while."

Gohan felt as though he was about to have a stroke. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about this?" he demanded.

"Why would I?" the young prince legitimately asked. "You're not in charge of the speeches or anything, and it's not like he's planning to do anything _wildly _inappropriate. He's got enough sense to know that he can't just get up and say whatever the hell he wants. He'll keep it on topic. I think."

"Then why are you telling us _now_?" Gohan pushed back.

Trunks shrugged. "I know that you saw the first draft, that one that he auditioned with," he pointed out. "I remember you editing it with him, and we all know that you memorize just about everything that has ever happened to anyone ever. You would know anyway. This is just a heads up."

"Trunks," Gohan warned, "what is my brother planning?"

The lavender haired youth held up his hands defensively. "Nothing extraordinarily out there," he swore. "It's a little off the beaten path as graduation speeches go, but I promise that this is not some form of elaborate and bizarre pranking. He thought long and hard about what he wanted to say, and he came up with a speech that meant something to him. That is one hundred percent the entire story."

Gohan groaned. "Somehow, I find myself doubting that."

"Oh ye of little faith."

The eldest Son opened his mouth to counter, but the opening of Pomp and Circumstance signaled that it was time to wrap up the conversation. The processional seemed to take forever, and the speeches by faculty dragged on and on. The principal in particular seemed extra monotonous on that afternoon, and it was not just the graduates who seemed to be drifting off in their seats. Finally and at last, the comment was made that it was time for the student speeches to begin. The first to speak was the valedictorian, a young man with a well drafted, clearly rehearsed, and rather bland talk on responsibility and the future. A young lady spoke after that, and she focused on the memories that she and her classmates had shared since they were small children, commenting largely on how they had all grown and matured with one another. After she concluded, the principal invited Goten to stand and give his own speech.

Goten took the podium graciously, thanking the principal as he did. "Hi!" he greeted the crowd. "Well, I don't know about all of my fellow classmates, but I for one am _so_ happy that we're graduating today."

There was a general sound of laughter through the crowd.

"So I'm pretty sure," he went on, "that you're all sitting there expecting to hear the same speech you've heard at every graduation you've ever been to. You're expecting me to talk about how we all started out together as kids, and how we've all grown, and how we've all had adventures and experiences together that have helped to shape us. Then I suppose it should transition into how we have taken everything we have learned, and how we're planning to use all of that knowledge and use it in our bright and shining futures. And I'm more than willing to bet that almost half of you aren't even listening to me right now, because hey, it's just a graduation speech. They're all the same. No offense to the other speakers."

It was no surprise to him that several people in the auditorium immediately sat a little straighter, attempting to prove that they actually were paying attention. It made his smile slide ever so slightly into a smirk.

"Well you'll be happy to know," he assured, "that I have no intention at all of talking about the good old days of school that are behind us. Well, at least as far as school is concerned. It really doesn't make any sense for me to, since I was home schooled for a while. I hear kindergarten was a hoot, though. Seriously, you guys had a grade with nap time built in? Why do we not still get that?"

Again the audience chuckled before the teenager went on. "What I'm actually going to talk about starts out on a less than happy note, and I would like to apologize in advance for that. But I swear, it does get better!" He cleared his throat and gathered himself slightly. "My father died before I was born, and my mother passed away when I was seven." A melancholy murmur surrounded him. "See? I told you that it started out depressing!

"So as you can probably guess, life kind of sucked for me right there. It happened really fast, and my brother and I went from having our nice little lives to, well, chaos. A lot of things had to change, and there wasn't a lot of time to get used to the new things. There was no time to prepare for anything. There was no way we could have been ready for any of it. And a lot of decisions got made for us, whether we liked them or not. It was rough.

"My mother always wanted the best for me and my brother," he continued. "A lot of people thought she was way too strict, but I can understand why she pushed me and my brother so hard. Life, as it turns out, sucks. It sucks a lot. And the less prepared you are for it, the more it sucks. And because life can suck so much when you're not prepared, my mother did everything in her power to make sure that we would be ready for any lousy thing life threw our way. We had long lessons to complete, dishes to wash by hand, drills on anything that could be drilled, basically. She wanted to protect us, and it was the best way she knew how.

"My older brother was built for that. He was the firstborn son, and boy did he live up to any expectation made of him." Gohan blushed in the stands, as modest of his accomplishments as ever. "He's never been arrogant about any of it, but he's been just about perfect at anything he ever tried. It all came naturally to him, but he would still try as hard as he could. He's nice, he's athletic, he's so smart that it's downright scary at times. He was about as perfect a son as someone could hope for. And for the record, for those of you who know me, I would like to take this moment to say that I'm not _that_ bad. I made it all the way to graduation without a record! Um, not a legal one, at least. There might have one or two indiscretions that…well, let's not have me admit to crimes you don't know I've committed yet, huh?"

His classmates chuckled along, most of them able to think of a time or two that their friend might be referencing. "Anyway," he went on, "my brother has always continued with that, even after our mother passed. Always working hard, always preparing for the future. And that's a good thing. Anything life decides to toss his way, he'll be there, and he'll be prepared for it. There's a plan for everything. And a backup plan. And a backup for the backup plan. And I think there might even be a level of planning in case those first three levels fall through."

"And another after that!" Trunks called out from the auditorium. It earned him a smack on the back of the head, but he felt it was well worth it.

Goten smirked. "That comment was brought to you by my best friend and partner in crime, Trunks Briefs. If you are interested in throwing things at him later this evening, speak to me privately. We'll set something up." He chuckled slightly, and the audience laughed with him. "Anyway, golden boy took the message of 'be prepared' to heart. And it's a good thing. But, and I mean no disrespect to my flawless big brother, it's not always the best thing."

He drew a breath, the memories of those times as clear as ever as he spoke of them. "You're probably wondering why I've been telling you this extremely depressing story. Well here's the thing: we have spent all our lives getting ready for 'tomorrow'. We've been looking toward and working for the future. Like I said, it's an important thing, and a value I'm glad our mother instilled in us. But there's something to be said for living for today. I'm not saying we should blow off the future like it will never come. I'm not saying we should drop out of college to open up a friendship bracelet shop or doing something else that ridiculous. I'm saying that tomorrow is going to come, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. But if you're always looking for what's coming next, you'll never see where you are right now. And where we are right now is amazing.

"We are at a point in our lives that we will never get to enjoy again. We are old enough to have our freedoms and our rights, but young enough to not be held entirely accountable for our less than stellar impulses. Most of the time." Another sly look went out to his classmates. "As amazing as it is, it's a part of life that we don't truly appreciate. We're usually so busy trying to see what we can get away with that we're not sighing with relief that we've made it this far already. I learned a lot from my mother. But the most important lesson I learned from her came from her inadvertently. Her death was a terrible, painful, tragic thing, but it taught me something. It taught me that you never know how much time you're going to have. It taught me that tomorrow is going to come, but you can't know if you'll be standing at the end of it. You don't know if someone you love will be there, either. But more than that, it taught me that you need to stand for what you believe, support the causes that are important, and love openly, and you need to do it now.

"I'm supposed to be talking to you about the future," he solemnly spoke. "I know that's what they want, and I actually promised that's what I would focus on when I got this gig, but I can't. The future is full of possibilities, but so is today. We need to celebrate today. We need to enjoy today. We need to honor today. We need to love today. There is more to life than tomorrow. There is today. And today, as we take the next step in our lives, lives that can only go on for so long, we must be thankful for the gift that is today. So please join me in taking a moment to give thanks for everything that we have. We are blessed to be here. We need to remember that. And we need to remember that every single day." He turned to his classmates and smiled. "Be thankful," he told them. "Be thankful."

With great dignity he took a step back from the podium. It was hardly the speech he had auditioned with, and there was a very real chance that he was going to get in trouble for his last minute switch. But he had spoken from his heart, just like he always did. It was just his way, and no school authority figure was going to tell him otherwise.

The auditorium was quiet for a moment before the applause sang out. The remainder of the ceremony was uneventful, and to be honest the young man zoned out while the other speeches were being made. He had gone and done his part. He was ready to get that diploma. He was ready to enjoy his day.

Up in the audience, Gohan clapped loudly and stood for his brother, the first, but not last, to honor the graduate so. Trunks was right. It was hardly the speech that had originally been planned for the day, but Goten had spoken from the heart, and it had served him well. Gohan could not have been prouder.


	23. Chapter 23

Gohan stood outside the door, a concerned look on his face. "I'm not sure how I feel about this," he admitted.

Behind him, his younger brother nodded. "I know what you mean," he sighed. "But I think that you and I have put this off for way too long already. We've got to get this done."

"I know." Gohan drew a deep breath and firmly placed his hand on the door handle. As he slowly opened the door his nose itched, the infiltration of dust causing it irritation. "We really did put this off for way too long."

"We?" Goten asked.

Goten shot his brother a hard look. "If I recall correctly, I am not the only one who was putting this off."

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about," Goten teased, knowing full well that Gohan was right. "Now come on, we've got to handle this."

The two young men entered their childhood home for the first time in almost two years. They had visited it a handful of times, but over the years their visits had been further and further apart. "It is amazing," Goten observed, walking around the living room, "how much dust can wind up in a place with no open doors, no open windows, and no one inside."

"Actually, it can happen as a result of…" the older brother paused, catching himself before he got too far in his explanation. "You really don't want to know how the dust got here, do you?"

"Not particularly." He ran his finger over the coffee table, rubbing the gathered dust between his fingers. "Not that I don't enjoy most of your lectures, but I honestly think we can pass on the one about dust."

Gohan smirked. "Fine, but you don't know what you're missing." He flipped a light switch, not at all surprised that nothing happened. "Can you open up the curtains?"

"Why, just because we haven't paid the power bill in over a decade?" The younger of the pair quickly followed through with the request, causing both brothers to squint at the sudden brightness. "You'd think we would have seen that coming."

"Well, let's face it, we're not that bright." Gohan smiled at his brother.

Goten returned the smile. "I know, right?" After running a sleeve over the table and grimacing at the dust. "So where do we begin?"

Gohan's smile faded. "I honestly don't know. This is as foreign to me as it is to you."

Twelve years ago, when they had first left, their home had been carefully cleaned and organized, close personal items were taken, and everything else was put away. As the years went on the brothers would come and go, sometimes taking items they were interested in, sometimes leaving those that they no longer needed. There had been no will left by either one of their parents. It had not seemed like a need back then. The house had been legally transferred over to Bulma, who had set the deed away for the boys when they had grown. And as Gohan's thirtieth birthday approached, she had adamantly insisted that it be signed over to him.

"So, should we start with the kitchen?" Goten offered. "That probably needs a lot of work."

With a nod, Gohan walked that way and cringed as each one of the cabinets screeched at being opened. "I can't believe we haven't taken care of this place in so long."

"I can't believe that Videl wants to move out here," Goten responded. "Does she have any idea that 'quaint' is basically the same thing as 'small and not even remotely near anything fun'?"

"Oh, she does," Gohan pointed out. "But she's lived in the city her whole life, and she wants a change, at least for a little while."

Goten nodded. "How does Panny feel about it?"

"Honestly? She's thrilled about it." He began pulling the older pots and pans from the cupboards, cringing at their state. "Our place is amazing, but she runs into the same problem you and I had with the whole world being too fragile for us. She has to spend too much time for her liking inside, because outside of our house there isn't a lot that can handle her when she's not keeping a lid on her energy. The idea of having this much space outdoors is heaven to her."

The younger of the pair quirked an eyebrow. "She does know that trees break when we run into them, right?"

"In theory," Gohan chuckled. "But let's face it, she hasn't been around a heck of a lot of those to go crashing through in her life. She's been in the city for almost all of her life."

"True enough." He popped open a capsule of cleaning supplies and got to work. "I'm pretty happy that you guys are moving out here."

Gohan glanced over at his brother. "And why is that?"

"Honestly? It always seemed a shame to me that we just kind of left it." He studied his work on a pan. "We had so much fun here when we were kids. I loved living here, and I was always a little sad that I had to leave it behind."

Gohan turned slowly, studying his brother. "You never told me that."

Goten shrugged. "Never seemed the right time." He tossed the cleaned pan onto the drying rack. "I mean seriously, when would it have been a good time to say 'Hey big brother, it sucks that we live in the city. There is not a thing you can do about it. That is all'? Admit it, you've got to be a little relieved that I didn't bring that to you when you were my age."

"I would have been happy to help you," Gohan defended.

"No, you would have been _good_ at helping," the younger one clarified. "You wouldn't have been happy about it. And that's okay. Either way, you know it now."

Gohan frowned. "I like helping you…"

"Oh for crying out loud," Goten interrupted with an eye roll, "is that really the fact you're focusing on? Gohan, you went above and beyond as an older brother, just like you always have been. My point was just that it seemed a little disappointing that we stopped really enjoying this place, and that I'm glad that you are going to get to live here again. Did I lose you at any point in there? Because no offense, but you've got a gift for only for only hearing the flaws in things, even when you're being complimented."

"I do not!"

"Yeah you do!"

The two brothers laughed with one another as they worked in the home, removing layer after layer of dust and getting things in order. "Hey!" Goten cheered after a while. "I was wondering where this went!"

"Where what went?" Gohan asked.

The teenager smiled as he stood up, pulling something out from the closet. "My old toy cars," he admired. "I lost these about a month before we moved out." He chuckled, remembering the moment. "Mom said something, I don't remember what exactly, but it really sounded like Dad had accidentally destroyed these. I thought I'd never see them again!"

Gohan watched as his younger brother plopped down on the couch, sending a large amount of dust into the air as he did it. "Why did you think Dad destroyed them?"

"Something Mom said," Goten answered, studying his old toys. "It was something like how I left my stuff out, and I didn't take care of my toys, then sometimes things happen to them. I thought that meant Dad stepped on them or something."

"Again, what made you thing it was Dad?"

Goten smirked, admiring the car in his hand. "Dad had already accidentally broken, like, five of my things. He'd only been there for a couple days, and he'd been the cause of most of the destruction at the time. He was a lot of fun, but man did my stuff survive better after he left."

Gohan frowned. "I don't think I've ever heard about your feelings on Dad," he observed.

Goten, though, simply shrugged. "If you've got to know, I'm fairly indifferent on him." He flipped the car over, studying the bottom of it. "You've got to remember, I only knew him for about a month. Most of what I know about him comes from group lore. Honestly, I sometimes forget that he really existed. He seems almost like a myth. Great stories about him, though. And the little time I spent with him, he seemed like a nice enough guy."

The elder of the pair frowned deeper. "That's really what you think about him?"

"What else should I think?" Goten asked. "Like I said, I didn't really know the guy, but he seemed pretty nice. I've got no other direct experience with him."

"Oh." Slowly, Gohan took a seat, mindful to not stir up nearly as much dust as his brother had. He sat quietly, pondering his brother's words, when his brother grew tired of the silence.

"I'm pretty sure that you don't feel the same way," he coaxed.

Gohan shook his head. "That's not important."

"Sure it is," Goten insisted. "Look, you never really talk to anyone about Mom and Dad. I know you've got the super big brother complex going on, and you're always going to look at me like I'm a little kid who needs to be protected from the world, but I'm a big boy now. Let it out. It'll probably do you a world of good."

Big brother shook his head. "It's nothing," he insisted.

"Bullshit," Goten casually countered. "Now come on. You make me talk whenever something's bugging me, and turnabout is fair play."

"Goten…"

"Payback's a bitch," he interrupted. "Spill."

Gohan quietly contemplated the demand. "I guess I would have to say that what happened with him bothers me more than it bothers you."

"Clearly, since I'm not bothered by it."

"True." Gohan began to stand. "Well, sharing was lovely. Let's get back to…"

But Goten grabbed his brother's sleeve and hauled him back down on the couch, releasing another impressive spray of dust. "Nope, you're not getting off that easy." He waved his hand in front of their faces in a vain attempt to clear out some of the dust. "You are going to sit right here and you are going to tell me what you think about Dad."

Gohan gave his brother a look. "Are you channeling Mom right now?"

"Possibly. Now out with it."

The twenty-nine year old shook his head. "I don't know what you want me to tell you."

"Well, how about exactly what I'm asking?" Goten teased. "What do you think about Dad?"

Gohan sighed. "Look, I just happen to remember his differently than you do, alright?"

"Of course you do," Goten pointed out. "I only knew him for a month, remember? You knew him for years before he left the first time after Cell."

"That wasn't the first time."

Gohan's words were so quiet that Goten was not entirely certain that they had been spoken at all. "Huh?"

Looking away, Gohan went on. "The first time he was gone wasn't actually his fault," he admitted. "Not at all. And he was really heroic when he died. That year was really hard. Although one must admit that being abandoned in the wilderness, doing survival training with Piccolo, and knowing that Vegeta was coming to kill us all didn't exactly make it easier."

Goten interrupted with a chuckle. "Sounds like Thursday nights to me," he laughed.

Gohan gave a small smile. "Right, and how sane are you?"

"Sanity is overrated, my friend."

"Perhaps," the elder of the brothers chuckled.

"Not 'perhaps'," Goten countered. "Definitely. I, for one, have never claimed sanity in my life, and I am happier for it. And let's face it, you and I were never going to turn out mentally sane, no matter what circumstances we were in. We're just that special!"

Gohan laughed again. "You know, I really do envy your attitude sometimes."

A small, fake pout formed on Goten's face. "Only sometimes?" he mock whined. "I was hoping to drive you up the wall with it _all_ the time." A melodramatic sigh escaped him. "Oh well, I guess torturing Trunks with it constantly will have to be enough." They shared a good laugh before Goten urged, "Now come on, out with it. You've been keeping this to yourself since the first time you decided that repressing was a good idea."

Gohan sighed. "There's something very wrong about this."

"What, you mean the younger brother being the voice of assurance to the older brother?" Goten shook his head. "If you need to save face, don't worry, I am more than happy to say that _I_ was the one with issues. And after spending so much of my childhood with Trunks and his family, I don't think anyone is going to have trouble believing it."

"I'd ask you when you became such a wise ass," Gohan replied, "but I think your earlier statement summed it up pretty well."

"It did, didn't it?" Goten shifted on the couch, again sniffing as another wave of dust assaulted his senses. "Now come on, I'm not letting you out of this. I have been trained by the best to be the most absolutely annoyingly persistent son of a gun when it comes to getting what I want. So just do yourself a favor and spit it out already. You made it as far as Dad being heroic the first time he died."

Gohan shook his head. "Look, the short version is…"

"The short version is what you've been telling me for years," his brother interrupted. "Dad had people to save. Dad left to save them. Dad sometimes forgot that after saving people, he was supposed to come back. And quite frankly, from the way you describe him I honestly don't know if you think he made a conscious decision to be gone or if he's just seriously absent minded. So talk to me. What about the second time he was gone? What about Namek?"

It was quiet in their little house, but Goten was wise enough to know that he sometimes needed to give his brother a bit of space if he wanted to get anything out of him. And sure enough, after three minutes of silence, the elder of the pair spoke. "Have you ever heard of the dragon not being able to grant a wish?"

Goten looked confused. "Um, yeah, I guess. I mean, he's not great at killing people, and from what I've heard he used to suck at bringing people back if they died more than once."

"But for something that he reasonably should be able to do?" Gohan asked. "Just moving a person from one spot to another?"

Shrugging, Goten answered with, "Not really, no."

Gohan rubbed his hands together. "After Namek, after we did everything as well as we could and wished everyone else back, we wished for Dad to be brought back to life. We had been told that he died on the planet when it exploded."

"Ouch," Goten cringed. "That doesn't sound good."

"He didn't," Gohan explained. "Apparently he managed to get off the planet in just enough time. So since he was alive, we wished for him to be sent back to Earth. And he said no."

Clearly confused, Goten asked, "Wait, the dragon said no, or Dad said no?"

"Both," Gohan admitted. "Dad said no, so the dragon didn't do it."

The younger of the pair practically gawked. "Since when has the dragon taken a poll to see if someone _wants_ a wish made on them to happen? If I had known _that_ was an option…"

"I think we're all better off that you and Trunks didn't know that there was a chance that was an option," Gohan interrupted. "Just imagining the two of you when you were kids, and what you would have been trying to do with something as powerful as the dragon balls, well, it hurts my head."

"True," Goten relented. "Although in our defense…eh, I got nothing. We would have been morons with them. It's hard to argue that. But is that why you've always seemed more than a little tense when Dad not being here is brought up? Because he talked the dragon into not making him come back?"

Gohan rubbed his hands together harder. "That was the first crack. The bigger one was after Cell."

"Yeah, I always wondered what his thinking was on that one," Goten mused out loud. "I mean, it sounds like he kind of thought about it, but not really. If having someone be dead would keep all of their enemies from having a chance at causing us trouble, we would have killed Vegeta years ago. And probably Piccolo. Grandpa would probably have made the list. Tien might have a few too, now that I think about it, and we'd probably have to axe Eighteen just for good measure. Oh, Yamcha used to be a thief, didn't he? So he's gone, too. Actually, if we just want to only be around someone with no enemies, it would probably just be Krillen, wouldn't it? We'd lose just about everyone else." The teenager tossed the toy car in the air and rolled it along his knuckles when it landed. "We don't hang out with the most upstanding of citizens, do we?"

"You see why Dad's logic bugged me?" Gohan moodily pointed out.

Goten nodded. "But let's face it, I don't think anyone has ever claimed logic as Dad's strongest asset."

"No, it wasn't," Gohan agreed. "And things were rough after Dad left that time."

The car continued to make its way back and forth against the young knuckles. "Yeah, I remember that."

Gohan glanced at his younger brother. "No you don't."

"Well, not the part where Mom was pregnant with me, no," Goten conceded, "but, and don't take this in the wrong way, you and Mom were always a little obvious that you were stressed and moody. At least while I was really young. Around when I was five or so you two lightened up a lot, but before then, well, you both sucked at hiding it."

Looking away, Gohan shook his head. "I didn't think you knew," he softly said.

But Goten seemed unfazed by it. "Nope, I knew. Now keep talking. You've kept this bottled up for your whole life, and I will get you to talk about it if I have to kick your ass to do so." When his brother shot him a look, Goten returned with, "Alright, I'll get Trunks to help me kick your ass." The look remained. "Okay, okay, we'd have to recruit Vegeta or Piccolo to help us. But you get my point!"

"I do," Gohan chuckled. "But I'm actually in a pretty good mood right now. I must say, your personal brand of lunacy is a great mood booster."

"I do what I can," Goten responded with a glow. "Alright, I'll let you off the hook for now. But someday, Gohan, you and I are going to finish this conversation. Now come on, we've got a lot of work to do before your wife or your daughter will be able to _breathe_ in here, let alone live."

The elder of the pair grimaced. "It really is a mess in here. How did we let it come to this?"

"We had other stuff to deal with," Goten calmly pointed out. "We came by a lot more when there was more opportunity and more need. But we've had lives to live, Gohan. You're the one who taught me that. And as nice as it would have been to have come by once a week and revel in our memories, it wasn't realistic. I'm just glad that Bulma held onto it for us for all these years so we _could_ come back."

"We really are lucky with our friends," Gohan agreed. "Now come on, Squirt. We've got to clean out your room!"

"No!" the younger brother mock cried. "My shrine! The glorious monument to my awesomeness! Why? Why must we destroy it, I ask you? Why, Gohan, why?"

Gohan chuckled as he began ascending the staircase. "Mainly because your 'shrine' mostly consists of broken toys in your old toy chest that you never deemed worthy of bringing to the city."

"Your point being?"

Another laugh. "Not that I don't love it, but I have often wondered where that incredible sense of humor came from."

"Freak accident, definitely," Goten assured, patting his brother's shoulder. "Well, if we have to take down the velvet ropes, we might as well get it done and over with. Though personally I find it utterly unreasonable that your daughter does not want to live in a room that stands as eternal testament to the awesomeness that is her uncle."

"Yes, she truly is unreasonable," Gohan laughed. "But that is how she is, and I love her, so down with the shrine!"

"Monster!"

The brothers laughed as they resumed their work. It would take a fair amount of time and a lot of hard work, but it was all worth it in the end. Soon enough, Gohan was able to move his family into the home, and a new life outside of the city was able to begin.


	24. Chapter 24

Trunks grumbled as he adjusted his jacket. "Why the hell are we dressing up for this?"

Beside him, Goten offered a half smile. "Because I'm trying to present myself as a responsible adult."

"Goten, they've already met you," his best friend pointed out. "They know you're not."

"Hey!"

"I'm not saying you're not responsible," Trunks clarified. "You actually are surprisingly on top of things, especially considering your childhood record of starting one thing, half destroying it, then getting distracted and moving on to the next thing you were going to break."

His younger friend glared. "If you're goal is to reassure me, you're sucking at it royally."

"I do everything royally," Trunks responded, not missing a beat. "But back to what I was saying, my comment was not about your level of responsibility. It's about your maturity. You're still as much of a kid as you ever were."

"You still suck at this," Goten growled, checking his own reflection in the mirror. "And I am totally a grown-up."

Trunks rolled his eyes. "First of all, the phrase you just used has been in your repertoire since you were what, nine?" When Goten opened his mouth to fight back, Trunks cut him off. "And you sleep in bed sheets with video game characters on them."

Goten scowled. "That's because they're awesome," he said. "And admit it, if you were so insecure about what someone else would say to you about them, you would, too. I am not childish. I'm just true to who I am."

"Argue it all you want," Trunks countered with a smirk. "You know they're going to agree with me."

"This is ridiculous!" Goten returned. "I am a grown man! I live in my own apartment, I cook my own food, I wash my own clothes…I even have a college degree!"

"Yeah, well I triple majored and they still treat me like a kid," Trunks calmly pointed out. "Face it, we're probably always going to look like kids to them. And for the record, you do not live in your own apartment. You do have a roommate, you know."

Goten rolled his eyes, imitating his friend's earlier gesture. "Yeah, _you_."

Trunks nodded. "And how do we pay for this penthouse?"

"With the allowance you've saved over the years because dear lord, your family is loaded."

With another nod, Trunks gave his best friend a pat on the shoulder. "Look, I'm not saying that I think this idea is stupid," he pointed out. "Hell, I'm totally in favor of it. I'm just trying to make sure you're ready for the arguments you're going to hear from you know who."

"My brother does have a name, Trunks."

"No kidding." Taking a step back, he smiled. "Well, we're as ready as we're going to get. Though I still maintain that you'd be able to make your case better if I wasn't there, I still support you, right to the bitter end."

With a playful slap, Goten said, "We're not marching to our doom, Trunks. We're going to have a talk with Gohan, not trying to screw with your dad. This has a far lower risk of us being bloodily murdered than many other things we have miraculously managed to survive."

"Yeah, how we lived to adulthood will remain a mystery to all," Trunks agreed. "Now come on, we've got to get going if we're going to be there in plenty of time. And since you're such a mature, responsible adult, you wouldn't want to be late."

/

"Hi! Let's play!" Pan was always eager when she opened the door. In fact, her parents were not entirely convinced that if a monster knocked on the front door with blood dripping from its fangs their daughter would not open the door, greet it with a grin, and as it to play.

Goten knelt down and hugged his niece. "Hey, Panny!" he greeted, ruffling her hair. "I promise we'll get a chance to play in a minute, but do you think you could let me and Trunks make it past the front door first?"

"Okay!"

Trunks kept his voice low as he told his friend, "Do you think she's ever going to stop being that perky? I mean, at her age…"

"She's nine, dumbass," Goten interrupted.

"That's my point." While he wished to say more on the subject, he knew Gohan would be in earshot soon, no matter how quiet he was. And if Gohan heard something negative about his daughter, then there might just end up with bloodshed that evening after all.

As if on cue, Gohan came down the staircase. "Welcome!"

"Hey Gohan!" Goten greeted with a hug. "How's life?"

"Not all that different than it was when we talked two days ago," he laughed. "We're still waiting to hear."

Trunks said hi, coming around to the brothers, before making the offer, "If you want me to make a phone call…"

"No," Gohan insisted. "First of all, you aren't even in the field, so your credibility is far lower. Secondly, and more importantly, it wouldn't be right."

The young prince resisted the urge to make a face, instead calmly replying, "Well, if there's anything we can do to help, anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask." _Even though we know you'd rather be ripped apart than ask for help_, came the afterthought.

Coming out from the kitchen, Videl greeted her guests before adding, "Thank you so much for the offer, Trunks, but I think we'll be okay. It's very sweet of you, though."

"No prob." Trunks shrugged out of his jacket and hung it up, well aware of how carefully he was being watched as he did so. "What?"

Gohan shifted his weight, studying his guests carefully. "So, I can't help but notice that you two aren't in your usual attire."

Goten felt his heart rate pick up a bit. "Yeah, well, you know how it is. Sometimes you just want to look your best!"

"Hmm." While he did not pursue the topic verbally, Gohan was clearly still thinking about what the change in outfits meant. "Well, make yourselves at home. Can I get you anything to drink?"

Soon enough, the meal had been eaten. It was a slightly more awkward affair than most of them were accustomed to, and conversation was being kept 'polite'. Movies were discussed, a few current events brought up, and a recipe was exchanged, but no one, not even Pan, brought up anything personal. As the meal concluded, Gohan got to his feet and began to clear the table. "Goten, can you give me a hand?"

The younger brother gulped, but he did nod and get to his feet. As he brought an armload of dished with him, he nervously chuckled and said, "Here you go!"

"What is it that you need to tell me?" Gohan bluntly asked.

With another gulp, Goten rubbed the back of his head. "Wow, you really don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"Not when I've got other company and you're acting as though you've done something terrible that you think you can't tell me about, but still need to tell me. So spill."

Goten shook his head. "Look, it's really not all that bad," he opened. "I mean, in the grand scheme of things, and especially considering what we're all capable of, this isn't bad at all. In fact, I don't even know why we're making such a big deal about it. So let's not make this any bigger than it is. Sounds great, huh? Wow, I feel better. How about I get dessert out of the…"

"Tell me," Gohan interrupted. "I'm not letting you leave this room until you do."

"Well…" It was not how he was hoping to deliver the information, but he knew that it had to be said sooner or later. "See, Trunks and I are getting a new place."

Gohan raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" he asked. "That was the big scary thing you didn't want to tell me? That you and Trunks are moving?"

Clearing his throat, Goten let out a nervous laugh. "Actually, that's not all of it. See, we were talking, and we realized that, well, we can afford an enormous space, and we really wanted that big place because it's just beyond awesome, but that even with all of Trunks' crap, we couldn't really use all of the bedrooms, but…"

"Get to the point!"

"Marron's moving in with us."

Gohan said nothing at first, but the muscles in his jaw definitely tensed. The two were quiet, washing the last of the dishes before the elder brother spoke. "Goten, I really don't think that's a good idea."

Keeping his eyes straight ahead, Goten responded, "I had a feeling that you weren't going to approve."

"Because it is not a wise move to make," Gohan counseled. "Goten, I know that you two are both good friends with her, but have you really thought it through? Having two men living with one woman can lead to some extremely bad situations."

Goten rolled his eyes. "Yes, because it is guaranteed that the two of us are going to fall madly in love with her, our friendship will dissolve, and we'll fight to the death in an epic clash in a rainstorm as we each try to prove we love her more by killing each other."

"Goten…"

"No, you know what?" Goten interrupted. "I didn't come here to ask for your blessing. I came out of courtesy to let you know what's going on in my life. You have every right to think what you think, but the three of us have already talked it over. We are adults, Gohan. We are actually capable of making our own choices."

Gohan's eyes narrowed. "Then why did it matter to you what I thought?" he challenged.

"Because everything I have ever done in my life has been judged by you!" he shot back. "Everything! And that's why I feel like every time I want to do something that you didn't do, I need to be ready to fight!"

"Goten, I think you're exaggerating quite a bit," Gohan told his brother, giving a glare over his glasses.

"Am I?" Goten shot back. "When I got a B in high school chemistry, what did you tell me?"

Gohan turned the water off. "Goten, that's different," he said. "I talked to you about it then, remember? You weren't doing your homework, and you weren't living up to your potential."

"It was a B!" the younger one argued. "And I'm sorry, since when was that such a crime? I learned the material, I did well on the tests, and I wasn't in trouble. So once in a while, yeah, I blew off my homework and had a fun day. You know what? I still graduated, I still went to college, and I'm still oddly enough a functioning member of society, in spite of not getting straight A's."

"It was not about straight A's," Gohan fought back. "Like I already said, it was about you not living up to your potential."

"What, my potential to be a stick in the mud like you?"

Placing his hand on the cool counter top, the older brother took a slow breath. His nerves were getting more frayed by the second as the conversation went on. "That was uncalled for."

"Was it?" Goten challenged. "Or is it something that should have been said a long time ago?"

In an instant, their argument began to quickly spin out of control. Things that had been long buried were furiously clawing their way out, forcing themselves to light. "You aren't being fair," Gohan argued. "You are upset about something, and you are turning that frustration on me."

Goten's eyes narrowed slightly. "Yeah, you moron, because I'm frustrated with _you_! Where am I losing you on this? _You_ are the one that keeps treating me like a child. _You_ are the one that judges every move I make. _You_ are the one that keeps pretending that you're Mom!"

The counter cracked, small pieces of it falling through Gohan's ever tightening fingers. "You are out of line," he warned.

"Yeah?" Goten fought back. "Then come on out and say what you've been thinking every day for years. Say that you're the better one of us. Say that you were able to be the son she wanted. Say it out loud."

More pieces began to crumble around Gohan's hands. "Don't you dare say things like that."

"You have always thought you were better than I was," Goten went on. "You were always the good son. You were brilliant. You were good at everything you ever tried. You were valedictorian of every school you were ever in, and it never got in the way of saving the world over and over again, and _that_ didn't slow you down too much to keep your room spotless. You were the straight A student who finished all his chores, did extra work around the house, _and_ held powers that make the gods jealous. Perfect student. Perfect warrior. Perfect son."

"I have worked hard," Gohan shot back. "I have sacrificed a lot in my life. I never meant to be perfect. I only wanted to be the best that I could be. And you are not allowed to be mad at me because I have worked hard for what I have."

"Where I have never worked a day in my life," Goten mocked. "I am merely Goten, the freeloader. He who is not worthy of the praise or admiration of Gohan. After all, I've never _earned_ a damn thing."

Gohan was completely unaware that he was utterly destroying his countertops as he fought to keep his anger in check. "You are _completely_ out of line," he warned.

"So stop me," Goten challenged. "You and me, outside, right now."

"I'm not going to do that to you," Gohan returned.

Goten stepped up, going toe to toe with his big brother. "If you're so damn sure that you can beat me that easily, prove it," he growled. "Outside."

"Goten…"

"No, now."

He would never fully understand why he gave in to that demand, but Gohan put up no more argument. With a grim look on his face, he led his brother out of the house, leaving all the others to stare with shocked expressions.

Videl got to her feet and moved to stop them, but Trunks stopped her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "Let them go," he softly told her.

The wife was unconvinced. "I can't let them…"

"It's not something you can stop," Trunks interrupted. "Look, you were an only child, so you may never get this entirely, but siblings are always going to have at least some tension between them. They're going to get upset with each other. There're going to be confrontations. And yes, there are going to be fights over who's loved more by their parents. Most of us deal with these things as they come up, and we get in little fights, like, all the time." He glanced toward window. "Those two have kept almost every major issue they've ever had bottled up. They've never dealt with them on a deep level. As much as I hate saying this, I think this fight is years overdue. They'll fight, they'll live, and then we'll move on." _I certainly hope._

"But…"

"Stay," the young prince delicately commanded. "If they start to get out of hand, I'll intervene. Unless that happens, this isn't our fight."

Videl slowly sat on the couch, not surprised when Pan crawled into her lap, but not particularly aware of it, either. Never in her life had she felt so helpless.

/

"Hit me."

Goten's words were harsh, and his brother cringed slightly at them. The cool night air had helped bring down his temper slightly. "We don't have to do this."

"Don't," Goten commanded. "Don't you dare do that again, Gohan. You don't get to just tell me that we're not doing this. You don't get to take the high ground. We are going to do this." It was the final warning he gave before he struck.

Gohan barely managed to block in time. A part of him never believed Goten would actually take a swing. But he had, and it was not a single strike. The younger of the brothers pushed forward aggressively, challenging Gohan as he never had before. It had always ever been a game between them when they had fought. This fight was different. This fight had anger. It was violent and ugly and something neither was truly ready for.

As Goten continued to move on the offensive, Gohan's instincts began to take over. Simple blocking gave way to counterstrikes. The more aggressively Goten moved, the harder Gohan hit back. Every time one brother landed a blow, the other instantly retaliated. All sense of composure melted off of them as they ascended. Even as far from the house as they were, the energy wave sent out by their transformations managed to crack several of the windows.

Inside the house, no one spoke. The fracture lines on the windows slowly grew as the two combatants brought their energies higher and higher. Videl sat tensely, subconsciously stoking her daughter's hair as the distant noises of the fight reached her ears. In her mother's lap, Pan curled up, seemingly in physical pain as the battle waged on. And on the far end of the room, Trunks maintained a calm façade while privately panicking about how to stop the fight if it did, in fact, continue on and fly wildly out of control. In a fair fight, or even an unfair one, he could usually take Goten. But an angry Goten would be difficult to handle, and Gohan…well, Gohan had always been well out of his league. If he was going to have any hope of stopping both of them, he was going to need help, and the only two people he knew who would be able to pull it off were not known for carrying cell phones with them.

Another shock wave rolled the house slightly. Pan whimpered, and buried her face in her mother's lap. "Make them stop, Mommy," she whispered.

"I wish I could, Panny," Videl quietly answered. "But I think Trunks was right. They're just getting something out of their systems right now. It's like when you were little and you'd get mad when we wouldn't let you have your way with something. You would get mad, and sometimes you even got mad at us, but in the end, we all still love each other."

Pan nodded, but she stayed down. What her mom said made sense, but somehow, what her dad was going did not seem the same as her reaction to not getting a toy. She never remembered throwing a temper tantrum nearly so large.

Goten hissed as he took a blow to his knee. He was running out of energy fast, and as time went on, he found himself taking far more hits than he was delivering. Gohan seemed tired, but not nearly to the same degree. They had been fighting for only fifteen minutes, but neither of them had paced themselves for a long fight. Both had blood rolling from their noses. Gohan had a gash on his left temple, a split lip, bruises and cuts largely on his arms, and what was at minimum a bruised kidney. Goten, also sporting the split lip, had taken more body blows, and that last hit to his leg hurt like hell. Instinctively he pulled it behind him. With a roar he swung his arm, putting all of his energy into one massive, furious blow. It landed with a crack, and Gohan immediately pulled back, cradling his jaw.

As the crack echoed, Goten found his anger vanishing instantly. "Oh, crap," he panted, his lungs burning with every breath.

Gohan dropped to his knees as he kept his hands on his jaw. The bone was shattered, and the older brother was completely unable to speak. Pain shot through his face. The world around him seemed to spin. Briefly, Gohan thought he was going to pass out. As he fought to maintain focus, he became aware of a pair of arms wrapping around him and the sensation of leaving the ground. He was barely able to maintain enough mental clarity to realize that he was being brought to the Lookout.

Dende was already outside and ready for them. The young Namekian asked no questions as his dear friend was placed on the ground, and he quickly got to work. Compared to many of the other wounds he had healed in his life, a broken jaw seemed almost insignificant. However, it still looked like it hurt. A lot.

"Ugh," Gohan groaned as he massaged his freshly healed jaw. "I haven't been in that much pain in a long time." He looked up at his rescuer. "You've got a better left cross than I remember."

Goten's face flushed, and he looked away. "I…I didn't really think I was going to do _that_," he lamely explained.

As Gohan began to stand, they both heard a deep voice clear behind them. Nervously, they both slowly turned, each looking like they had just been caught being naughty by their parents.

"Are the two of you quite through?"

Each brother hung his head, embarrassed. "Um, yeah," Goten sheepishly answered. "Sorry."

Piccolo glared at both of the Son boys. "Have you both completely lost it?" he scolded. "Do you have any idea how much damage you did to the planet during your little _hissy fit_?"

"Piccolo…"

Gohan was cut off before he could get any further into his explanation. "You know better than that," the large warrior angrily interrupted. "You are _both_ responsible for using the vast powers you have, and I do not want to hear one word out of either one of you on the subject. Now work out your issues like the adults that you are."

The brothers nodded and took flight, both quietly issuing a thanks to Dende as they left. They flew silently for the first half of the journey before Goten spoke.

"I'm sorry, Gohan," he sincerely apologized. "This was totally my fault."

Gohan, though, shook his head. "Goten, this was just as much my fault as it was yours. You were right with what you said before. I have been making judgmental comments. I have always tried to give my advice to help you, but as I consider it, I can admit that I haven't always been fair or even kind with it."

"Well, I can admit that I do sometimes still act like I'm a little kid," Goten replied. "Look Gohan, I know that not everything I do lives up to your expectations. And I know that you worry about me. But do you think you could trust me?"

Answering with a small smile, Gohan said, "Of course. It's just as you said yourself: I worry about you. But you have shown that while you may sometimes choose somewhat childish pastimes every now and again, you do make good decisions with your life. I trust you, Goten. And if you really think this living arrangement is a good idea, I will trust your judgment and support you."

"Thanks," Goten answered.

"But," his brother warned, "if I find out from anyone, ever, that you guys do end up in a bitchy love triangle situation, I reserve the right to break your jaw in retaliation."

Goten gulped. "Um, yeah, I guess that's fair." As they neared the house, Goten tried to apologize again, but he was cut off by his brother.

"How am I going to explain this to Panny and Videl?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Goten assured. "I'm sure Trunks explained it to them already." When Gohan raised an eyebrow, Goten chuckled. "To be honest, he predicted this a decade ago."

Gohan groaned. "And _now_ is the time you chose to tell me about this?"

"Well when the hell else was I going to?" the younger brother pointed out. "What was I going to do, watch you graduate, give you a hug, and tell you that Trunks said you and I were going to explode on each other if we didn't start fighting regularly?"

"Fair enough," Gohan answered. "And Goten?"

"Yeah?"

"You won."


End file.
